https://doi.org/10.4081/jbr.2016.6206

Acetaldehyde as the first hit of addictive behaviour

Vol. 89 No. 2 (2016)
Submitted: July 27, 2016
Accepted: November 7, 2016
Published: December 20, 2016
Acetaldehyde, Ethanol-related effects, Addictive behaviour
Abstract Views: 1244
PDF: 1253
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Angela Cavallaro
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care Giuseppe D’Alessandro, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Gianluca Lavanco
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care Giuseppe D’Alessandro, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Carla Cannizzaro
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care Giuseppe D’Alessandro, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Anna Brancato
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care Giuseppe D’Alessandro, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Danila Di Majo
Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Marco Giammanco
Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Francesco Martines
Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences, ENT Section, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Irene Miccichè
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care Giuseppe D’Alessandro, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Fulvio Plescia
fulvio.plescia@unipa.it
Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care Giuseppe D’Alessandro, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Unhealthy alcohol use is common in the Western society, which puts risk of health consequences, causing multiple behavioural injuries. Increasing evidence focuses on acetaldehyde, the first metabolite of ethanol, as the mediator of the several behavioural actions of alcohol, including its rewarding and motivational effects. In particular, acetaldehyde induces dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens modulating primary alcohol rewarding effect, drug seeking, and relapse behaviour. Recent behavioural studies point at acetaldehyde as a drug of abuse since its oral self-administration is induced and maintained in an operant/conflict paradigm. These findings provide further evidence on the role played by the acetaldehyde as a mediator of the effects of alcohol and focus attention on this molecule to arrange a more effective strategy, aimed at the prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse. Thus, the aim of this review is to summarize latest results on the role of acetaldehyde as the mediator of ethanol-central effects focusing on its capacity to induce an addictive behaviour.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

How to Cite

Cavallaro, A., Lavanco, G., Cannizzaro, C., Brancato, A., Di Majo, D., Giammanco, M., Martines, F., Miccichè, I., & Plescia, F. (2016). Acetaldehyde as the first hit of addictive behaviour. Journal of Biological Research - Bollettino Della Società Italiana Di Biologia Sperimentale, 89(2). https://doi.org/10.4081/jbr.2016.6206

PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.