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Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on December 6, 2004
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2005 40(1):46-53; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agh114
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Alcohol & Alcoholism Vol. 40, No. 1 © Medical Council on Alcohol 2005; all rights reserved

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

SUPPRESSING EFFECT OF THE CANNABINOID CB1 RECEPTOR ANTAGONIST, SR147778, ON ALCOHOL INTAKE AND MOTIVATIONAL PROPERTIES OF ALCOHOL IN ALCOHOL-PREFERRING sP RATS

GIAN LUIGI GESSA1,2,*, SALVATORE SERRA2, GIOVANNI VACCA2, MAURO A. M. CARAI2 and GIANCARLO COLOMBO1

1 C.N.R. Institute of Neuroscience, Section of Cagliari, Cagliari and 2 Bernard B. Brodie Department of Neuroscience, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: C.N.R. Institute of Neuroscience, Section of Cagliari, Viale Diaz, 182, I-09126 Cagliari (CA), Italy. Tel.: +39 070 302227; Fax: +39 070 302076; E-mail: lgessa{at}unica.it

(Received 30 July 2004; first review notified 1 September 2004; in revised form 14 September 2004; accepted 1 October 2004)

Aims: The present study investigated the effect of the newly synthesized cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist, SR147778, on alcohol intake and the motivational properties of alcohol in selectively bred Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) rats. Methods and Results: In Experiment 1, the repeated administration of SR147778 (0.3–3 mg/kg twice daily, i.p.) specifically suppressed the acquisition of alcohol drinking behaviour in alcohol-naive rats exposed to the two-bottle ‘alcohol vs water’ choice regimen for 24 h/day. In Experiment 2, an acute administration of SR147778 (2.5–10 mg/kg, i.p.) specifically reduced alcohol intake in alcohol-experienced rats that were given alcohol and water under the two-bottle choice regimen in daily sessions of 4 h. In Experiment 3, an acute administration of SR147778 (0.3–3 mg/kg, i.p.) suppressed the ‘alcohol deprivation effect’, i.e. the extra-intake of alcohol occurring after a period of alcohol abstinence. In Experiment 4, an acute administration of SR147778 (0.3–3 mg/kg, i.p.) specifically suppressed the extinction responding for alcohol, i.e. the maximal number of lever responses reached in the absence of alcohol in rats trained to lever-press for alcohol (measure of the motivational properties of alcohol). In Experiment 5, the combination of 3 mg/kg of SR147778 (i.p.) and 0.5 g/kg of alcohol (i.p.), a dose comparable with those usually consumed by sP rats in each drinking binge, failed to induce any conditioned taste aversion. Conclusion: Taken together, these results extend to SR147778 the anti-alcohol profile of the prototype cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist, rimonabant (SR141716), and strengthen the hypothesis that the cannabinoid CB1 receptor is part of the neural substrate mediating alcohol intake and the motivational properties of alcohol.


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