Blind study of the effect of the alpha-adrenergic agonists clonidine and lofexidine on alcohol withdrawal in the rat.
Alpha-adrenergic agonists have been reported to block the opiate withdrawal reaction in animals and humans, probably by interference with the catecholaminergic hyperactivity that prevails during opiate withdrawal. Since catecholaminergic hyperactivity also occurs during alcohol withdrawal, the present study investigated whether the central alpha-adrenergic agonists clonidine and lofexidine could interfere with this type of withdrawal reaction. During withdrawal from a 4-day intoxication period, male Wistar rats were assigned to one of three groups: clonidine treatment (0.15 mg/kg, N = 11), lofexidine treatment (0.50 mg/kg, N = 11) and control (N = 11). The study was performed blind, the code for the saline control and two drug treatment groups being broken only after the last rating of withdrawal symptoms. Since neither clonidine nor lofexidine modified the development or degree of the alcohol withdrawal reaction, there was no support for the assumption of a common mechanism involving the alpha-adrenergic system during opiate and alcohol dependence.
D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000430:Alcohol Withdrawal Delirium / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D003000:Clonidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011604:Psychoses, Alcoholic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011942:Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha / Q000187:drug effects
D011942:Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha; D003000:Clonidine; C025655:lofexidine