PMID: 9549309Apr 29, 1998Paper

Stress and alcohol: research with experimental animals

Nihon Arukōru Yakubutsu Igakkai zasshi = Japanese journal of alcohol studies & drug dependence
M Tanaka

Abstract

Research on the interaction of ethanol and stress with experimental animals are briefly reviewed. There might be the two aspects of the interaction of stress and ethanol, i.e., how stress affects ethanol ingestion and response to ethanol, and how ethanol modifies stress response. In general, stress increases ingestion of ethanol in animals exposed to various stresses including electric shock, immobilization and psychological or emotional stresses, wherein the psychological or emotional factors were predominantly involved. However, in most cases, ethanol ingestion is increased after release from stress not during exposure to stress. A variety of stressful stimuli caused marked increases in the neurotransmitter release in many brain regions. Immobilization stress increased noradrenaline release in the extended brain regions in rats. These increases were significantly attenuated by pretreatment with ethanol in the rat amygdala and locus coeruleus, but not in the hypothalamus, although ethanol by itself increased noradrenaline release in the hypothalamus. Further, psychological stress, wherein the rats were given no electrical shock, but exposed to the emotional responses such as struggling, vocalization, jumping and defecation sho...Continue Reading

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