Effects of Ghrelin on Alcohol Cue Reactivity and Craving
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
1969-12-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Only a few medications are approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence and there exists
a substantial need for discovering ways to provide more effective treatments. Accordingly,
identifying new potential neuropharmacological targets in the treatment of alcohol dependence
represents a high priority in public health. Ghrelin is a 28-amino acid peptide acting as the
endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R). Ghrelin was first
isolated from the stomach, but a central hypothalamic production of ghrelin has also been
demonstrated. Ghrelin plays a key role in the regulation of appetite. Consistent with the
common neurobiological substrates for control of food and alcohol consumption, preclinical
investigations suggest that ghrelin plays a role in the neurobiology of alcohol dependence,
thus representing a new potential neuropharmacology target. In keeping with the preclinical
studies, human investigations showed that alcohol consumption affects blood ghrelin levels
and that blood ghrelin levels significantly and positively correlate with craving
measurements in alcohol-dependent individuals. The effects of exogenous ghrelin injected
intravenous (i.v.) in alcohol-dependent individuals, however, have never been investigated.
The current project proposes a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled 3-group
between-subject laboratory study aimed at investigating the effects of exogenous ghrelin i.v.
on non-treatment seeking alcohol-dependent subjects in terms of urges to drink, attention to
cues and related psychophysiological measures. This project has the goals to: i) conduct an
alcohol laboratory study testing the role of ghrelin i.v., therefore demonstrating the
feasibility of such a study and the safety of ghrelin i.v. when administered to
alcohol-dependent individuals; and ii) explore the effects of ghrelin i.v. on alcohol craving
assessed under controlled conditions, such as a cue-reactivity (CR) experiment.
This study will address whether alcohol craving is affected when ghrelin levels are modified
acutely via a ghrelin i.v. injection. Given the crucial need to expand our understanding of
the underlying neurobiology of alcoholism, this study potentially will lead to identify new
targets for the development of pharmacological treatments that may improve interventions for
alcohol dependent individuals.