"The opioid antagonist naltrexone (NTX) is used to treat alcohol
dependence and may reduce alcohol consumption by selectively blocking
opioid receptors. In rat experiments, discrepancy exists across studies
regarding the potency of NTX to reduce ethanol consumption. One cause
of this discrepancy may be the use of different routes of NTX
administration (e.g., intraperitoneal vs. subcutaneous). The purpose of
this study was to directly compare the effects of intraperitoneal and
subcutaneous injections of NTX on ethanol self-administration... Naltrexone significantly reduced ethanol
self-administration, and NTX was more potent when administered via
subcutaneous injection versus intraperitoneal injection... These findings suggest that
researchers should carefully consider the route of NTX administration
when discussing potency and selectivity of NTX's effects on
ethanol-related behaviors in rats."
Alcohol abuse is
a devastating disease, and many researchers perform experiments using
animal models to try and find ways to prevent or treat it. But
sometimes the details of an experiment are crucial.
Created by Brad Roth (roth@oakland.edu) on Thursday, April 9, 2009 Modified by Brad Roth (roth@oakland.edu) on Thursday, April 9, 2009 Article Start Date: Thursday, April 9, 2009
