AUTHOR=Colombo Giancarlo , Carai Mauro A., Gessa Gian Luigi TITLE=Suppression by γ-Hydroxybutyric Acid of “Alcohol Deprivation Effect” in Rats: Preclinical Evidence of its anti-Relapse Properties JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=3 YEAR=2012 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00095 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00095 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=

γ-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) reduces (a) alcohol intake and alcohol motivational properties in alcohol-preferring rats and (b) alcohol drinking and craving for alcohol in human alcoholics. The present study was designed to extend to relapse-like drinking the capacity of GHB to suppress different alcohol-related behaviors in alcohol-preferring rats. The “alcohol deprivation effect,” defined as the temporary increase in alcohol intake occurring in laboratory animals after a period of alcohol deprivation, was used as model of alcohol relapse. Acute administration of non-sedative doses of GHB (0, 100, 200, and 300 mg/kg, i.p.) resulted in the complete suppression of the extra-amount of alcohol consumed by Sardinian alcohol-preferring rats during the first hour of re-access to alcohol after a 14-day period of deprivation. These data demonstrate that GHB suppressed relapse-like drinking in a rat model of excessive alcohol consumption.