Translational models of interactions between stress and alcohol consumption: strengths and limitations

Much has been written about the interaction of stressors (physical, social, and psychological) and alcohol addiction based on studies in humans and preclinical models. We begin by considering the significance and complexity of alcoholism and the options for effectively modeling it in animals, particularly rodents. We then focus on the following aspects of stress-alcohol interactions: (1) compulsive alcohol consumption, characterized by continued intake despite the presence of stressful or aversive consequences; (2) the possible relationship between acute stress and increased alcohol intake; (3) an apparent cross sensitization of stress and alcohol exposure, which increases both future reactivity to stress and the risk of developing alcohol addiction; and (4) efforts to target stress in therapeutic interventions for alcoholism. We also describe possible neuroadaptations and genetic factors that may interact with stress to increase susceptibility to alcoholism. Throughout, we describe the challenges and inconsistencies inherent in both human and animal studies of alcoholism, its etiology, and its impacts. We believe the relationship between preclinical and human studies is of paramount importance to understand addiction-related behavior in humans and to direct, improve, and expand animal models. It is our hope that a full understanding of the mechanistic bases of pathological alcohol intake will have translational benefits for the development of behavioral and pharmacological therapies.