Effects of dihydropyridines on the components of the ethanol withdrawal syndrome: possible evidence for involvement of potassium, as well as calcium?

Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research
W P Watson, J J Little

Abstract

Comparison was made of the ability of two dihydropyridine calcium channel antagonists, nitrendipine and felodipine, to prevent a range of signs of ethanol withdrawal. The increases in handling-induced behavior seen in mice during withdrawal from chronic ethanol treatment were prevented by administration of nitrendipine, 50 mg/kg, but not by, felodipine, 10 mg/kg, a dose that caused a similar displacement of dihydropyridine binding in central nervous system tissue, in vivo and in vitro. A higher dose of felodipine, 20 mg/kg, also had no effects. Nitrendipine, but not felodipine, prevented audiogenic seizures during the withdrawal phase. Similarly, nitrendipine prevented both the decrease in thresholds for N-methyl-DL-aspartate seizures and the increase in thresholds for convulsions due to 4-aminopyridine, which were seen during the withdrawal period, while felodipine did not alter either of these changes. Withdrawal from the ethanol chronic treatment increased the thresholds to seizures produced by intravenous aminophylline; this change was also prevented by nitrendipine. The significance of this increase in thresholds was lost after felodipine administration. In naive mice (not treated with ethanol) the doses of nitrendipine an...Continue Reading

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Citations

Dec 3, 2003·Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology·Ming-Huan Chan, Hwei-Hsien Chen
Aug 26, 1998·Drug and Alcohol Dependence·M J Kreek, G F Koob
Oct 5, 2007·Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju·Vessela Vitcheva, Mitka Mitcheva
Apr 26, 2006·Alcohol and Alcoholism : International Journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism·Howard C BeckerLynn M Veatch

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