GABA Mechanisms Underlying the Vulnerability to Alcohol Dependence

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2012-04-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

This Project will explore the hypothesis that individuals with a family history positive for alcohol dependence (without any current Axis I disorder, except nicotine dependence), experience an alteration in the reward "valence" (balance of positive and negative effects) of the GABAA receptor agonist barbiturate (thiopental) compared to family history negative age-matched subjects. Further, variation in genes involved in brain GABA function may influence the risk for alcoholism by altering a component of the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Yale University
• Collaborator: VA Connecticut Healthcare System
• Treatments: Thiopental

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Male and female between the ages of 21 and 30 years

2. medically and neurologically healthy on the basis of history, physical examination, Electrocardiogram (EKG), screening laboratories

3. absence of any evidence of substance abuse (with the exception of nicotine dependence) on the basis of history and drug and ethanol-free at the time of testing based on urine toxicology and breath alcohol levels at screening and on each test day.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) Axis I psychiatric and substance abuse or dependence diagnosis by history on psychiatric evaluation that includes a structured diagnostic interview (SCID)

2. unwillingness to remain alcohol-free for three days prior to each test day;

3. for women, positive pregnancy test at screening or intention to engage in unprotected sex during the study and

4. alcohol naive. For Family History Positive Subjects: 1) Biological father and another first or second-degree biological relative with history of alcoholism by Family History Assessment Module (FHAM) developed by The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA).

For Family History Negative Subjects: NO family history of alcoholism in any first or second-degree relatives. Subjects must reliably report on three first-degree relatives.