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Electroacupuncture Reduces Voluntary Alcohol Intake in Alcohol-preferring Rats via an Opiate-sensitive Mechanism

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Abstract

Electroacupuncture (EA) has been shown to modify the effects of various drugs of abuse, including alcohol. Inbred P rats were trained to drink alcohol voluntarily and then subjected to two periods of alcohol deprivation lasting 3 days. During the second deprivation, the rats received either EA or sham EA. The rats were pretreated with naltrexone (5 mg/kg) or saline 30 min before each of the EA or sham EA sessions. Approximately 6 h after the last naltrexone or saline treatment, the alcohol tubes were returned and alcohol and water intakes were recorded later at 2, 4, 6, and 24 h. Only EA led to a decrease in alcohol intake, which was most prominent at 6 and 24 h, and this inhibitory effect of EA was blocked by naltrexone, suggesting that activation of the endogenous opiate system may be responsible for EA’s effects on alcohol intake in the alcohol-dependent iP rats.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded jointly by NCCAM and NIAAA (P01-AT002038) through a Center of Excellence Program on “Alternative Therapies for Alcohol and Drug Abuse.” Additional Supports provided by NIDA Grant KO5 DA00343 (SEL), and by the National Basic Research Programme (2003-CB515407) of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7178, USA

    David H. Overstreet

  2. Bio-Organic and Natural Products Laboratory, Mailman Research Center 317, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA

    Cai-Lian Cui, Yao-Ying Ma, Chang-Yong Guo, Ji-Sheng Han & David Y.-W. Lee

  3. Neuroscience Research Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Peking University Health Science Center, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Cai-Lian Cui & Ji-Sheng Han

  4. Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA

    Scott E. Lukas

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  1. David H. Overstreet
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  2. Cai-Lian Cui
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  3. Yao-Ying Ma
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  4. Chang-Yong Guo
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  5. Ji-Sheng Han
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  7. David Y.-W. Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Y.-W. Lee.

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Special issue article in honor of Ji-Sheng Han.

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Overstreet, D.H., Cui, CL., Ma, YY. et al. Electroacupuncture Reduces Voluntary Alcohol Intake in Alcohol-preferring Rats via an Opiate-sensitive Mechanism. Neurochem Res 33, 2166–2170 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9791-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9791-9

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