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ACTH and Alcohol Consummatory Behavior

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Alcohol Abuse Treatment

Part of the book series: Drug and Alcohol Abuse Reviews ((DAAR,volume 3))

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Abstract

Alcoholism is a major public health problem throughout the world. In the US, for example, the annual cost of this problem in terms of lost productivity and health-related expenses exceeds $125 billion. Alcoholism as a biobehavioral phenomenon has a variety of different aspects, including, but not limited to: genetic factors, brain neurochemistry, behavioral phenomena, dependence and tolerance, and interactions with nutrition. In addition, various aspects of the human lifestyle, including the stresses of everyday living, have been implicated in the numerous hypotheses proposed to explain why human beings become—and remain—alcoholics. In many of these hypotheses, attempts have been made to implicate a variety of facets of the brain-pituitary-adrenal glands system as causative factors, with only a modicum of success to date. This chapter will attempt to review and assess the possible role(s) of the brain-pituitaryadrenal system (the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis, or HPA) in the development and maintenance of alcohol consummatory behavior in the light of new data obtained from studies with laboratory animals and some related human work.

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  1. Roger P. Maickel
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  2. Suchitra Krishnan
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  3. Joseph E. Zabik
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  1. University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Ronald R. Watson

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Maickel, R.P., Krishnan, S., Zabik, J.E. (1992). ACTH and Alcohol Consummatory Behavior. In: Watson, R.R. (eds) Alcohol Abuse Treatment. Drug and Alcohol Abuse Reviews, vol 3. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0363-6_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0363-6_13

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