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In a double-blind, cross-over study of twenty male volunteers intravenous injection of 0.4 mg naloxone prevented the impairment of psychomotor performance induced by low levels of blood alcohol. The possibility that alcohol produces intoxication by stimulating the release of endogenous opioid peptides should be investigated.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two partial benzodiazepine inverse agonists, RO15-4513 and FG-7142, alone and in combination with ethanol on locomotor activity in C57BL/6 mice. When administered alone, 1.5 g/kg ethanol did not significantly influence activity, confirming previous reports indicating this mouse strain is relatively insensitive to the excitatory properties of ethanol. RO15-4513 treatment also did not significantly influence locomotor activity when administered alone. However, coadministration of RO15-4513 (1.5-6 mg/kg) and ethanol markedly increased locomotor activity. Moreover, the unmasking of ethanol's stimulant action by RO15-4513 (6 mg/kg) was completely reversed by pretreatment with the benzodiazepine receptor antagonist RO15-1788. In contrast, FG-7142 (10-20 mg/kg) increased activity to the same extent in both saline and ethanol-injected mice. This effect was blocked by RO15-1788 pretreatment as well. Neither RO15-4513, FG-7142, nor RO15-1788 significantly influenced blood ethanol concentrations. It is suggested that RO15-4513 unmasked the stimulant effects of ethanol by virtue of its ability to antagonize the depressant properties of ethanol in C57BL/6 mice.

Previous studies have shown that Asians who possess a variant aldehyde dehydrogenase allele (ALDH2*2) have lower rates of alcohol consumption and dependence. Research in Asian men has shown that those with ALDH2*2 have greater responses to alcohol than do those without this genetic variant. The present study was designed to determine whether similar levels of response to alcohol, using objective and subjective measurements, are seen in men and women with different ALDH2 genotypes.Participants (N = 30) were 16 men and 14 women, of whom five each were heterozygous for ALDH2*2. They were evaluated in response to alcohol and placebo beverage challenges, dosed according to estimated body water. Objective and subjective responses were measured every 30 minutes from baseline to 150 minutes after ingestion.Men and women with ALDH2*1/*2 had greater pulse-rate increases, greater observed flushing responses and greater subjective feelings of being dizzy, drunk and high compared with ALDH2*1/*1 participants, despite having equivalent breath alcohol concentrations. ALDH2*1/*2 participants also reported being less likely to drive, following this level of intoxication, compared with ALDH2*1/*1 participants. Some gender differences were found in subjective, but not objective, responses to alcohol, with women reporting lower levels of being high, nauseated and uncomfortable and having a lower total subjective rating scale score.This study suggests that low risk for alcoholism based on possession of an ALDH2*2 allele relates to greater response to alcohol in both men and women.

Abstract Oral administration of ethanol in a dose of 65 mmol kg−1 produced marked change of plasma phosphate level in rabbits. Hypophosphataemia was observed for the first 2 h after administration followed by significant increase of plasma phosphate at 5 h. Hypophosphataemia did not appear when ethanol was given to the rabbits pretreated with pyrazole. When animals were injected with disulfiram in advance, the duration of hyperphosphataemia due to ethanol was prolonged. Administration of acetaldehyde at a dose of 1.5 mmol kg−1 produced hyperphosphataemia. In this study, plasma phosphate was not associated with change in calcium level. These results suggest that the hypophosphataemia observed was related to the metabolic process of ethanol utilizing alcohol dehydrogenase, and that acetaldehyde, a metabolite of ethanol, might induce the hyperphosphataemia in the animals.

Dominance hierarchies are an important aspect of group-living as they determine individual access to resources. The existence of dominance ranks in access to space has not been described in socially monogamous, communally nesting prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Here, we tested whether dominance could be assessed using the tube test. We also tested whether dominance related to alcohol intake, similar to what has been demonstrated in nonmonogamous species. Same-sex pairs of unfamiliar peers were tested in a series of three trials of the tube test, then paired and allowed individual access to alcohol and water for 4 days, and then tested again in the tube test. For all pairs, the same subjects won the majority of trials before and after alcohol drinking. The number of wins negatively correlated with alcohol intake on the first day of drinking and positively correlated with levels of Fos in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus following the tube test in a separate group of voles. Dominance was not related to Fos levels in other brain regions examined. Together, these results indicate that prairie voles quickly establish stable dominance ranks through a process possibly involving the hypothalamus and suggest that dominance is linked to alcohol drinking.

To review the available evidence that examines the association between climatic and agricultural land use factors and the risks of enteric zoonoses in humans and consider information needs and possible pathways of intervention.The electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science and Embase and government websites were searched systematically for published literature that investigated the association of climatic and/or agricultural exposures with the incidence of the four most common enteric zoonotic diseases in New Zealand (campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis). Results The 16 studies in the review demonstrated significant associations between climate, agricultural land use and enteric disease occurrence. The evidence suggests that enteric disease risk from environmental reservoirs is pathogen specific. In some rural regions, environmental pathogen load is considerable, with multiple opportunities for zoonotic transmission.Enteric disease occurrence in NZ is associated with climate variability and agricultural land use. However, these relationships interact with demographic factors to influence disease patterns.Improved understanding of how environmental and social factors interact can inform effective public health interventions under scenarios of projected environmental change.

A characteristic pattern of ETOH-induced locomotor activation in the DBA/2Abg strain (D2), small activation or sedation in the C57BL/6Abg (B6), and an intermediate position of the F1s was found using a between-group design and 1.5 g/kg ETOH. This pattern was consistent for a variety of behavioral indices not previously examined, including distance, rest time, movement speed and length, as well as the traditional horizontal counts. Using a within-subject, multiple day, repeated-testing procedure, the same three genotypes were also assessed after manipulating drug administration order, where ETOH exposure (1.5 g/kg) was on either the first or second test day. Another experiment examined the effect of lighting level on the response to 1.5 g/kg ETOH using a within-subjects approach. Neither the testing order nor lighting condition had any major influence on the magnitude of activation as measured by locomotor activity (distance). The pattern of additive genotypic influences exhibited by the B6, D2, and F1 mice is remarkably resistant to these contextual and procedural manipulations.

Adolescents frequently engage in risky behaviours such as binge drinking. Binge drinking, in turn, perturbs neurodevelopment reinforcing reward seeking behaviour in adulthood. Current animal models are limited in their portrayal of this behaviour and the assessment of neuroimmune involvement (specifically the role of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)). Therefore, the aims of this project were to develop a more relevant animal model of adolescent alcohol exposure and to characterise its effects on TLR4 signalling and alcohol-related behaviours later life. Balb/c mice received a short (P22-P25), low dose alcohol binge during in early adolescence, and underwent tests to investigate anxiety (elevated plus maze), alcohol seeking (conditioned place preference) and binge drinking behaviour (drinking in the dark) in adulthood. Four doses of alcohol during adolescence increased alcohol-induced conditioned place preference and alcohol intake in adulthood. However, this model did not affect basal elevated plus maze performance. Subsequent analysis of nucleus accumbal mRNA, revealed increased expression of TLR4-related mRNAs in mice who received alcohol during adolescence. To further elucidate the role of TLR4, (+)-Naltrexone, a biased TLR4 antagonist was administered 30 min before or after the adolescent binge paradigm. When tested in adulthood, (+)-Naltrexone treated mice exhibited reduced alcohol intake however, alcohol seeking and anxiety behaviour was unaltered. This study highlights that even a small amount of alcohol, when given during a critical neurodevelopmental period, can potentiate alcohol-related behaviours and TLR4 activation later in life. Interestingly, attenuation of TLR4 before or after adolescent alcohol exposure reduced only binge alcohol intake in adulthood.