DrugLib.com — Drug Information Portal

Rx drug information, pharmaceutical research, clinical trials, news, and more



Functional magnetic resonance imaging of alprazolam-induced changes in humans with familial alcoholism.

Author(s): Streeter CC, Ciraulo DA, Harris GJ, Kaufman MJ, Lewis RF, Knapp CM, Ciraulo AM, Maas LC, Ungeheuer M, Szulewski S, Renshaw PF

Affiliation(s): Department of Psychiatry/116A, Outpatient Clinic, Boston National Institute on Drug Abuse/Veterans Administration Medication Development Research Unit, MA 02114, USA. streeter.chris@boston.va.gov

Publication date & source: 1998-05-20, Psychiatry Res., 82(2):69-82.

Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial

This study sought to identify whether subjects with a family history (FH + ) of alcoholism had changes in regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV) after an alprazolam challenge which distinguished them from subjects without a family history (FH -) of alcoholism using functional MRI (fMRI). Twelve FH + and eight FH - subjects were challenged with 1 mg of alprazolam or placebo in a double-blind crossover design. FMRI scans were obtained at baseline, 1 and 2 h after the challenge using the dynamic susceptibility contrast method with gadolinium. Mood scales, the Tufts Addiction Research Center Inventory-Morphine Benzedrine Group Scale and the drug liking scale, were administered every 30 min to assess drug effects. Global analysis of CBV showed a treatment by time decrease on alprazolam relative to placebo, but no effect by family history. The FH + group showed rCBV decreases at 1 h in the left caudate and left inferior prefrontal region, while the FH - group showed rCBV decreases at 2 h in the right inferior prefrontal region and anterior cingulate in response to alprazolam relative to placebo. FH + subjects reported more mood enhancement with alprazolam. This fMRI technique detected global and regional CBV changes induced by alprazolam. The location and rate of alprazolam-induced rCBV changes differed between FH + and FH - subjects. These changes may be related to the increased mood enhancement found in subjects genetically predisposed to alcoholism.

Page last updated: 2006-01-31

-- advertisement -- The American Red Cross
 
Home | About Us | Contact Us | Site usage policy | Privacy policy

All Rights reserved - Copyright DrugLib.com, 2006-2017