Different pituitary beta-endorphin and adrenal cortisol response to ethanol in individuals with high and low risk for future development of alcoholism.
We investigated the ACTH/cortisol response to ovine corticotropin-releasing hormone (oCRH) and ethanol in men with and without a family history of alcoholism.
The objective of this study was to examine the response of the pituitary beta-endorphin and adrenal cortisol systems to various concentrations of ethanol in male and female subjects at high and low risk of the future development of alcoholism.
Thus, in the ethanol-preferring animals, the increased release of beta-endorphin following exposure to ethanol was associated with a higher density of delta- or mu-opioid receptors in brain regions important for reinforcement, such as the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area, and may interact with the dopaminergic system and promote ethanol's reinforcing properties, leading to excessive drinking and alcoholism.
Thus, in the ethanol-preferring animals, the increased release of beta-endorphin following exposure to ethanol was associated with a higher density of delta- or mu-opioid receptors in brain regions important for reinforcement, such as the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area, and may interact with the dopaminergic system and promote ethanol's reinforcing properties, leading to excessive drinking and alcoholism.
Taken together with other recent findings, the results suggest that the beta-E response to alcohol may represent a new biomarker that can be used to identify individuals who are at elevated genetic risk for developing alcoholism.
The purpose of this study was to examine ACTH, cortisol, and prolactin responses to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), citalopram, as a function of personal or family history of alcohol dependence in a group of abstinent alcohol dependent men.
These studies investigated the response of pituitary beta-endorphin to stress and the effect of alcohol on the stress response in subjects at low (LR) and high (HR) risk of alcoholism, as determined from their family history.
Experimental evidence indicates that components of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and of the endogenous opioid system, such as beta-endorphin (beta-END), influence alcohol consumption, whereas chronic alcohol abuse alters the activity of both systems.
Persons who differ in family history of alcoholism have been shown to also differ in basal beta-endorphin activity, beta-endorphin response to alcohol, and subjective and HPA axis hormonal response to opioid antagonists.
The response of the pituitary beta-endorphin to a placebo or an alcohol (0.50 g ethanol/kg) drink and to a stress task performed 30 min following ingestion of either the placebo or the alcohol drink was measured in social and heavy drinkers with [high risk (HR)] and without [low risk (LR)] a family history of alcoholism.
Therefore, our data provide no support for the idea that variations in OPRM1, OPRD1, PENK and POMC are associated with alcohol dependence or general illicit drug dependence, but variations in PENK and POMC appear to be associated with the narrower phenotype of opioid dependence in these families.
We analysed the DNA methylation of the 5' promoter of the POMC gene that is embedded in a CpG island using bisulfite sequencing in 145 alcohol-dependent patients and 37 healthy controls taken from the Franconian Alcoholism Research Studies.
Genetic variation at a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) of both humans and rhesus macaques Macaca mulatta has been associated with differential affinity to the endogenous ligand beta-endorphin as well as alterations in pain sensitivity, drug and alcohol dependence, and social behaviors.The new study by Higham et al.
Here we describe epigenetic modifications of Pomc gene that transmit through generation via male germline and may be critically involved in alcoholism-inherited diseases.
Thus, the data obtained suggest no association of the selected polymorphisms of the genes OPRM1/POMC and OPRK1/PDYN with alcoholism in Croatian population.
Thus, the data obtained suggest no association of the selected polymorphisms of the genes OPRM1/POMC and OPRK1/PDYN with alcoholism in Croatian population.
Previous findings of the Franconian Alcoholism Research Studies showed that both the CAGn of the androgen receptor (AR) and the promoter methylation of the hypothalamic peptide proopiomelanocortin (POMC) were associated with craving of male alcohol-dependent patients.