Alcohol binge-drinking, especially among adolescents and young adults, is a serious public health concern. The present study examined ethanol binge-like drinking by peri-adolescent [postnatal days (PNDs 30—72)] and adult (PNDs 90—132) alcohol-preferring (P) rats with a drinking-in-the-dark—multiple-scheduled-acces (DID-MSA) procedure used by our laboratory. Male and female P rats were provided concurrent access to 15% and 30% ethanol for three 1-hr sessions across the dark cycle 5 days/week. For the 1st week, adolescent and adult female P rats consumed 3.4 and 1.6 g/kg of ethanol, respectively, during the 1st hr of access, whereas for male rats the values were 3.5 and 1.1 g/kg of ethanol, respectively. Adult intakes increased to ~2.0 g/kg/hr and adolescent intakes decreased to ~2.5 g/kg/hr across the 6 weeks of ethanol access. The daily ethanol intake of adult DID-MSA rats approximated or modestly exceeded that seen in continuous access (CA) rats or the selection criterion for P rats (≥ 5g/kg/day). However, in general, the daily ethanol intake of DID-MSA peri-adolescent rats significantly exceeded that of their CA counterparts. BELs were assessed at 15-min intervals across the 3rd hr of access during the 4th week. Ethanol intake was 1.7 g/kg vs. 2.7 g/kg and BELs were 57 mg% vs. 100 mg% at 15- and 60-min, respectively. Intoxication induced by DID-MSA in female P rats was assessed during the 1st vs. 4th week of ethanol access. Level of impairment did not differ between the 2 weeks (106 vs. 97 sec latency to fall, 120 sec criterion) and was significant (vs. naïve controls) only during the 4th week. Overall, these findings support the use of the DID-MSA procedure in rats, and underscore the presence of age- and sex-dependent effects mediating ethanol binge-like drinking in P rats.

Neuroinflammatory signaling pathways in the CNS are of current interest as potential pharmacotherapy targets for alcohol dependence. In this study, we examined the ability of ibudilast, a non-selective phosphodiesterase inhibitor, to reduce alcohol drinking and relapse in alcohol-preferring P rats, high-alcohol drinking HAD1 rats, and in mice made dependent on alcohol through cycles of alcohol vapor exposure. When administered twice daily, ibudilast reduced alcohol drinking in rats by approximately 50% and reduced drinking by alcohol dependent mice at doses which had no effect in non-dependent mice. These findings support the viability of ibudilast as a possible treatment for alcohol dependence.

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) have a staggering socioeconomic impact. Few therapeutic options are available, and they are largely inadequate. These shortcomings highlight the urgent need to develop effective medications to prevent and/or treat AUDs. A critical barrier is the lack of information regarding the molecular target(s) by which ethanol (EtOH) exerts its pharmacological activity. This review highlights findings implicating P2X4 receptors (P2X4Rs) as a target for the development of therapeutics to treat AUDs and discusses the use of ivermectin (IVM) as a potential clinical tool for treatment of AUDs. P2XRs are a family of ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) activated by extracellular ATP. Of the P2XR subtypes, P2X4Rs are expressed the most abundantly in the CNS. Converging evidence suggests that P2X4Rs are involved in the development and progression of AUDs. First, in vitro studies report that pharmacologically relevant EtOH concentrations can negatively modulate ATP-activated currents. Second, P2X4Rs in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system are thought to play a role in synaptic plasticity and are located ideally to modulate brain reward systems. Third, alcohol-preferring (P) rats have lower functional expression of the p2rx4 gene than alcohol-non-preferring (NP) rats suggesting an inverse relationship between alcohol intake and P2X4R expression. Similarly, whole brain p2rx4 expression has been shown to relate inversely to innate 24 h alcohol preference across 28 strains of rats. Fourth, mice lacking the p2rx4 gene drink more EtOH than wildtype controls. Fifth, IVM, a positive modulator of P2X4Rs, antagonizes EtOH-mediated inhibition of P2X4Rs in vitro and reduces EtOH intake and preference in vivo. These findings suggest that P2X4Rs contribute to EtOH intake. The present review summarizes recent findings focusing on the P2X4R as a molecular target of EtOH action, its role in EtOH drinking behavior and modulation of its activity by IVM as a potential therapy for AUDs.

Increased glutamatergic neurotransmission appears to mediate the reinforcing properties of drugs of abuse, including ethanol (EtOH). We recently reported that the administration of ceftriaxone (CEF), a β-lactam antibiotic known to upregulate glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1) levels/activity, decreased the maintenance of EtOH intake in adult male alcohol-preferring (P) rats. In the present study, we tested whether CEF administration would reduce the acquisition and maintenance of EtOH drinking in adolescent and adult female P rats. The rats were treated with saline or 200 mg/kg ceftriaxone for 7 days (starting at 35 or 75 days old, respectively) followed by the EtOH acquisition test. Five weeks later the effects of CEF were examined regarding the maintenance of EtOH intake. For the maintenance test, half of the animals that received CEF during acquisition received CEF for 7 days and the other half received saline for 7 days. Saline-treated acquisition animals were treated similarly. The results indicated that pretreatment with ceftriaxone reduced the maintenance of EtOH intake in both animals that started as adolescents and those that started as adults. However, the beneficial effect of CEF was more pronounced in rats pretreated with CEF as adults compared with rats pretreated as adolescents. Reductions in EtOH intake by ceftriaxone were paralleled by an upregulation of GLT1 protein levels in both the nucleus accumbens (µ25% in rats starting at both ages) and prefrontal cortex (µ50% in rats starting as peri-adolescents and µ65% in those starting as adults). These findings provide further support for GLT1-associated mechanisms in high alcohol consuming behavior, and hold promise for the development of effective treatments targeting alcohol abuse and dependence.

Rationale Phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) and neuroimmune signaling have been posited to regulate alcohol drinking. Objectives This study evaluated the involvement of PDE4 and Il22ra2 on ethanol (EtOH) intake by alcohol-preferring (P) and high-alcohol drinking (HAD1) rats. Methods Exp 1 determined the dose-response effects of PDE4 inhibitors, rolipram and Ro 20-1724, on 2h/day free-choice EtOH intake by adult P and HAD1 rats. Exps 2–3 examined the effects of repeated administration with the PDE4 inhibitors on EtOH or sucrose intake, and locomotor behavior. Exp 4 determined Pde4-associated gene expression differences in subregions of the extended amygdala, between high- and low-alcohol-consuming rat lines. Exp 5 evaluated the effects of infusing short hairpin RNA to knock down Il22ra2 in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell on 24h free-choice EtOH drinking by P rats. Results Administration of rolipram or Ro 20-1724 reduced EtOH intake by P rats; Ro 20-1724 reduced EtOH intake by HAD1 rats. Repeated rolipram or Ro 20-1724 exposure reduced EtOH intake by P and HAD1 rats. PDE4 inhibition induced motor impairment during the first hour of EtOH intake by P rats. Higher gene expression levels for PDE4A were found in the NAc shell of P vs. NP rats. ShRNAs targeting Il22ra2 in the NAc shell significantly reduced chronic EtOH intake. Conclusions PDE4 and neuroinflammatory/immune signaling pathways could represent molecular targets for the treatment of alcohol use disorders, in genetically predisposed subjects. This study underscores the importance of testing compounds over multiple days and rat lines when determining efficacy to disrupt excessive alcohol intake.