Serotonin-altering medications and desire, consumption and effects of alcohol-treatment implications

The relationship between serotonin neurotransmission and alcohol consumption (AC) was first determined in preclinical studies. AC generally increases following treatments which decrease serotonin activity, and levels of 5-HT and metabolites are low in some brain regions of alcohol-preferring rats. Pharmacological treatments which enhance serotonergic neurotransmission (uptake inhibitors, releasers, agonists) consistently reduce AC in rats. Serotonin uptake inhibitors (SUI; e.g., citalopram, fluoxetine) have been studied extensively in humans. In several double-blind randomized, placebo-controlled trials, SUI consistently decreased short-term (2-4 weeks) AC by averages of 15% to 20% in nondepressed mildly/moderately dependent alcoholics who received no other treatment. Some subjects decreased AC by up to 60%. The effects of SUI on AC were dose-dependent and not related to side effects (few and mild) or changes in anxiety or depression (not observed). SUI decreased desire to drink and liking for alcohol, suggesting a mechanism of action, to be considered in the development of treatments to reduce AC and prevent relapse. However, while an adjunctive brief psychosocial intervention enhanced the short-term effect of a SUI, the long-term (12-week) effects of SUI and placebo were similar. Other drugs acting on the 5-HT system have been tested in humans, but results are inconclusive. For example, buspirone, a 5-HT1A receptor partial agonist, reduced anxiety and alcohol craving, but not AC; a 5-HT partial agonist, m-CPP, increased craving in abstinent alcoholics; modest reductions in AC were observed with a 5-HT3 antagonist, ondansetron (0.5 mg/day, but not 4 mg/day). Ritanserin, a 5-HT2 antagonist, reduced desire to drink and prevented relapse in a small (n = 5) study, and there was some indication that it reduced desire to drink and enhanced alcohol effects without reducing AC, in another study. The therapeutic potential of these medications is being studied. SUI and other serotonin-altering medications are promising new neuropharmacological treatments for AC.