Biomedical subjects

Etienne Quertemont

Publications and source records attributed to Etienne Quertemont.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Acamprosate reduces context-dependent ethanol effects.

RATIONALE: Previous studies have indicated that the conditioned effects of environmental stimuli contribute to ethanol tolerance and abuse. Acamprosate was recently suggested to reduce the effects of environmental stimuli previously associated with ethanol administrations. This action is believed to contribute to the clinical benefits of acamprosate treatment in alcoholics. OBJECTIVES: In the present experiment, a classical drug-conditioning paradigm was used to test whether acamprosate modulates the effects of ethanol-paired environmental stimuli on spontaneous motor activity. METHODS: Wistar rats were divided into three groups: cued, uncued and control. The cued group daily received ethanol injections (2.0 g/kg, IP) in a specific testing environment. The uncued group daily received ethanol injections (2.0 g/kg, IP) in their home cage but never experienced ethanol in the testing environment. The control group was injected with saline and never experienced ethanol. After 8 conditioning days, the rats were IP injected with various ethanol doses (saline, 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 g/kg) and their spontaneous motor activity in the testing environment was recorded to investigate their respective tolerance to ethanol inhibitory effects. In the second part of the study, the same procedure was repeated with chronically acamprosate-treated rats. The chronic acamprosate treatment (400 mg/kg per day) started 2 weeks before the conditioning procedure by diluting acamprosate in the drinking bottles and was maintained throughout the whole experiment. RESULTS: The cued rats showed a significant environment-dependent tolerance to ethanol inhibitory effects relative to the uncued and control rats. This higher ethanol tolerance of the cued rats was mainly due to a faster recovery from ethanol's inhibitory effects on spontaneous activity. Furthermore, the cued rats showed a higher level of activity in the testing environment after the saline injection. However, it is not clear whether this hyperactivity is a conditioned compensatory response or an increased exploratory behavior. Acamprosate totally abolished the environment-dependent tolerance to ethanol, whereas it did not alter the hyperactivity of the cued rats in the testing environment. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study suggest that acamprosate reduces ethanol-conditioned effects. Such an action may be of importance to explain the anti-relapse effects of acamprosate.

Acamprosate↗

PubMed2002

Differential taurine responsiveness to ethanol in high- and low-alcohol sensitive rats: a brain microdialysis study.

Several microdialysis studies have investigated the effects of acute ethanol on extracellular amino acids in various rat brain regions. However, these studies led to conflicting results, suggesting that individual differences between rat strains and lines may play an important role. In the present study, high-alcohol sensitive (HAS) and low-alcohol sensitive (LAS) rats were used to investigate the possible relationship between ethanol sensitivity and the concentrations of extracellular amino acids in the nucleus accumbens. Several groups of HAS and LAS rats were injected with either saline or ethanol (1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 g/kg, i.p.) and the concentrations of amino acids in the nucleus accumbens microdialysates were assayed by electrochemical detection. Acute ethanol induced a dose-dependent increase in extracellular taurine concentrations. However, this increase was significantly reduced at 2.0 and 3.0 g/kg ethanol in HAS rats relative to LAS rats. Since the biological functions of taurine suggest its implication in the reduction of ethanol adverse effects, a higher increase in taurine concentrations may contribute to the lower ethanol sensitivity of LAS rats. Although 2.0 and 3.0 g/kg ethanol did not affect extracellular glutamate concentrations, a significant increase in glutamate was observed after 1.0 g/kg ethanol to HAS rats but not to LAS rats. Such an effect remains unexplained but suggests that discrepancies between the results of previous microdialysate studies may be related to differences in the ethanol sensitivities of various rat strains.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Role of acetaldehyde in the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol.

BACKGROUND: Acetaldehyde has been suggested to mediate some of the effects of ethanol. Acetaldehyde can be produced by the enzyme catalase within the brain after ethanol administration. The catalase inhibitor 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (AT) reduces the production of acetaldehyde, and AT administration can reduce a number of ethanol-induced behavioral effects; this suggests the involvement of acetaldehyde in these behaviors. However, a role for acetaldehyde in mediating the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol remains unclear. METHODS: The contribution of acetaldehyde to the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol was investigated by use of a two-lever drug discrimination paradigm with food reinforcement. Male Long-Evans rats were trained to discriminate water from either 1.0 or 2.0 g/kg ethanol. Stimulus substitution tests were conducted with ethanol (0-2.5 g/kg by gavage) and acetaldehyde (0-300 mg/kg intraperitoneally). A cumulative dose-response procedure was then used to investigate the effects of pretreatments with AT (0.5 and 1.0 g/kg intraperitoneally) on ethanol discrimination. RESULTS: Acetaldehyde up to doses that decreased response rates (300 mg/kg) did not substitute for the discriminative stimulus effects of 1.0 or 2.0 g/kg ethanol. In addition, AT pretreatment did not affect the dose-response curves for ethanol discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that exogenous acetaldehyde administration does not produce discriminative stimulus effects that are similar to those of ethanol. Also, pretreatment with the catalase inhibitor did not affect the dose-response curve for ethanol discrimination, and this suggests that endogenously produced acetaldehyde does not contribute to the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol. Together these results suggest that acetaldehyde does not mediate the discriminative stimulus effects of 1.0 to 2.0 g/kg ethanol.

Acetaldehyde↗