Craving in Alcohol-Dependent Patients After Detoxification Is Related to Glutamatergic Dysfunction in the Nucleus Accumbens and the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

• Published in: Neuropsychopharmacology (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 38; no. 8; pp. 1401 - 1408
• Main Authors: Bauer, Jochen, Pedersen, Anya, Scherbaum, Norbert, Bening, Johanna, Patschke, Johanna, Kugel, Harald, Heindel, Walter, Arolt, Volker, Ohrmann, Patricia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing Group 01.07.2013
• Subjects: Abstinence; Addictive behaviors; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - diagnosis; Alcoholism - metabolism; Alcoholism - therapy; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Behavior, Addictive - diagnosis; Behavior, Addictive - metabolism; Behavior, Addictive - therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Desintoxication. Drug withdrawal; Drug withdrawal; Ethanol; Female; Glutamic Acid - metabolism; Gyrus Cinguli - metabolism; Humans; Hypotheses; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy - methods; Male; Medical sciences; Metabolism; Metabolites; Middle Aged; Nucleus Accumbens - metabolism; Original; Physiology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Spectrum analysis; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - diagnosis; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - metabolism; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - therapy; Surveys and Questionnaires; Toxicology; Treatments; Germany; Human; Poison withdrawal; Alcoholism; Craving; Central nervous system; Detoxification; Basal ganglion; withdrawal; Glutamate; Encephalon; Nucleus accumbens; H MRS; Alcoholic beverage; Cingulate cortex; Dependence; Excitatory aminoacid; Neurotransmitter; Disintoxication

The upregulation of glutamatergic excitatory neurotransmission is thought to be partly responsible for the acute withdrawal symptoms and craving experienced by alcohol-dependent patients. Most physiological evidence supporting this hypothesis is based on data from animal studies. In addition, clinic...