NEU 365W Lecture 19: 04_28 - Medications & Treatments Part 2
Document Summary
04/28 - lecture 19: part 2: alcohol abuse disorder treatment. Acts at millimolar concentrations & doesn"t have any particular receptor it acts on (no particular target for replacement agonist, partial agonist or antagonist) (1) disulfiram (antabuse) discovered by accident (denmark: people working with vulcanized rubber would get nauseous after drinking, chemist isolated the compound biproduct later (1945, approved later to treat aud used in 1948. Inhibits aldh (alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme that breaks down acetaldehyde (alcohol toxic derivative) Leads to buildup flushing, tachycardia, nausea, headache: can also get to this state if you have a super active adh (alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme that breaks down alcohol to acetaldehyde, variants are typically protected against. Reduces drinking via fear of punishment (nausea/sickness, etc. ) in highly motivated patients. Fear doesn"t work well in those who are addicted: may impair conditioning to alcohol reward in animals, limitations, no significant effect over all: ??? (aren"t these contradictory?) Need to have motivation, and its dangerous.
