title: Piecing together the puzzle of acetaldehyde as a neuroactive agent.
abstract: Mainly known for its more famous parent compound, ethanol, acetaldehyde was first studied in the 1940s, but then research interest in this compound waned. However, in the last two decades, research on acetaldehyde has seen a revitalized and uninterrupted interest. Acetaldehyde, per se, and as a product of ethanol metabolism, is responsible for many pharmacological effects which are not clearly distinguishable from those of its parent compound, ethanol. Consequently, the most recent advances in acetaldehyde's psychopharmacology have been inspired by the experimental approach to test the hypothesis that some of the effects of ethanol are mediated by acetaldehyde and, in this regard, the characterization of metabolic pathways for ethanol and the localization within discrete brain regions of these effects have revitalized the interest on the role of acetaldehyde in ethanol's central effects. Here we present and discuss a wealth of experimental evidence that converges to suggest that acetaldehyde is an intrinsically active compound, is metabolically generated in the brain and, finally, mediates many of the psychopharmacological properties of ethanol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychobiology, University Jaume I, 12071 Castelló, Spain. correa@psb.uji.es
authors.forename: Mercè
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Salamone
authors.forename: Kristen N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Segovia
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pardo
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Longoni
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Spina
authors.forename: Alessandra T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Peana
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vinci
authors.forename: Elio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Acquas
mesh_terms: D000079:Acetaldehyde / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D011600:Psychopharmacology; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D000431:Ethanol; D000079:Acetaldehyde