title: Commonalities and Distinctions Among Mechanisms of Addiction to Alcohol and Other Drugs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alcohol abuse is comorbid with abuse of many other drugs, some with similar pharmacology and others quite different. This leads to the hypothesis of an underlying, unitary dysfunctional neurobiological basis for substance abuse risk and consequences.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this review, we discuss commonalities and distinctions of addiction to alcohol and other drugs. We focus on recent advances in preclinical studies using rodent models of drug self-administration.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While there are specific behavioral and molecular manifestations common to alcohol, psychostimulant, opioid, and nicotine dependence, attempts to propose a unifying theory of the addictions inevitably face details where distinctions are found among classes of drugs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For alcohol, versus other drugs of abuse, we discuss and compare advances in: (i) neurocircuitry important for the different stages of drug dependence; (ii) transcriptomics and genetical genomics; and (iii) enduring effects, noting in particular the contributions of behavioral genetics and animal models.
authors.affiliation: Research & Development Service, Portland VA Medical Center, Portland, Oregon.|Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon.|Portland Alcohol Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: Angela R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Ozburn
authors.affiliation: Research & Development Service, Portland VA Medical Center, Portland, Oregon.|Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon.|Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon.|Methamphetamine Abuse Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: Aaron J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Janowsky
authors.affiliation: Research & Development Service, Portland VA Medical Center, Portland, Oregon.|Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon.|Portland Alcohol Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Crabbe
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012646:Self Administration; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D059467:Transcriptome
keywords: Addiction; Alcohol; Animal Models; Cocaine; Drugs of Abuse