Novel Pharmacological Interventions for Alcoholism [Paperback]

Novel Pharmacological Interventions for Alcoholism identifies priorities for focusing alcoholism and addiction research efforts during the coming years. A number of important issues concerning methodology, mechanisms, clinical evaluation, and pharmaceutical aspects are discussed. This book is also a plea for a greater degree of collaboration among academics, pharmaceutical physicians and scientists, and drug regulators; it demonstrates that progress in understanding and fighting addiction and alcoholism is possible in the foreseeable future.Novel Pharmacological Interventions for Alcoholism identifies priorities for focusing alcoholism and addiction research efforts during the coming years. A number of important issues concerning methodology, mechanisms, clinical evaluation, and pharmaceutical aspects are discussed. This book is also a plea for a greater degree of collaboration among academics, pharmaceutical physicians and scientists, and drug regulators; it demonstrates that progress in understanding and fighting addiction and alcoholism is possible in the foreseeable future.I. General Methodologic Issues.- 1. Animal Models for Testing Drug Effects on Alcohol Consumption.- 2. Animal Models for Screening Drugs to Decrease Alcohol Consumption.- 3. Medications for Alcohol Abuse and Dependence: Methodology for Clinical Studies.- 4. Some Issues in the Evaluation of a Pharmacotherapy of Alcoholism.- II. Serotonin and Alcohol Consumption.- 5. Serotonin and Alcohol Consumption.- 6. Serotonergic and Dopaminergic Involvement in Ethanol Intake.- 7. Serotonin and Alcohol Consumption.- 8. Basic and Clinical Studies on Serotonin, Alcohol, and Alcoholism.- 9. Evaluation of the Effects of Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors in Alcoholics: A Review.- III. Opioids and Alcohol Consumption.- 10. Opioids Modulate Rats Propensities to Take Alcoholic Beverages.- 11. The Enkephalinergic System and Maintenance of Ethanol Drinking.- 12. The Relationship of All³)