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Displaying One Session

Clinical/Therapeutic
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
10:00 - 11:30
Room
Channel 3
Session Description
Proposed by the EPA section on Addictive Behaviours - Rational strategies for the transfer of innovative drug targets from animal lab to clinical routine are still scarce in research and treatment of alcohol addiction. Drug development has been shown to be successful if innovative pathways are targeted in pre-clinical studies, but only if it is additionally accompanied by an innovative clinical treatment regime. In order to foster discussion and to define requirements regarding treatment targets, translationally applicable read-outs, and useful interventions we have assembled an expert group that will introduce novel concepts of innovative treatment targets and recent treatment strategies in alcohol-use disorders. Anne R Lingford-Hughes will present an overview on the neurobiological basis of alcohol addiction and principles of relapse prevention treatment; especially those that aim to reduce reward anticipation. The role of oxytocin neurotransmitter systems in addictive behaviour with a focus on recent imaging genetics studies will be the topic of the talk of Patrick Bach in order to define it as a potential future treatment target. Lofti Khemiri agreed to present data of a recently finished project focussing on the role of cognitive function in relapse prevention and associated pharmacological treatment options. At least Benjamin Rolland presents data on the experiences with baclofen in AUD treatment in France highlighting the difficult interpenetration between evidence-based medicine on the one hand, and on-the-ground practice on the other hand.
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LIVE - Symposium: Novel Pharmacotherapeutic Strategies for Regaining Control over Alcohol Intake in Alcohol Use Disorder (ID 336) No Topic Needed

S0085 - Reduction of Reward Anticipation as a Pharmacological Target in the Treatment of AUD

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Live, Section
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
10:00 - 11:30
Room
Channel 3
Lecture Time
10:00 - 10:17
LIVE - Symposium: Novel Pharmacotherapeutic Strategies for Regaining Control over Alcohol Intake in Alcohol Use Disorder (ID 336) No Topic Needed

S0086 - Role of Oxytocin in Modulating Addictive Behaviour

Session Icon
Live, Section
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
10:00 - 11:30
Room
Channel 3
Lecture Time
10:17 - 10:34
Presenter

ABSTRACT

Abstract Body

Background: The brain oxytocin system is involved in a wide range of addictive behaviors, inhibiting prime- and cue-induced relapse in preclinical models of substance use disorders. Animal studies linked oxytocin’s effects on drug ingestion to modulation of neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). We set out to investigate whether oxytocin can modulate alcohol cue-induced functional connectivity between the brain reward system and cortical regions.

Methods: Fifteen male heavy social drinkers were enrolled in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over functional magnetic resonance imaging study (fMRI) investigating the effect of 24 IU oxytocin on alcohol cue-modulated functional connectivity.

Results: Results of the functional connectivity analyses show that oxytocin application significantly reduced connectivity between the NAc and cuneus and thalamo-occipital connectivity, while enhancing connectivity between the paracingulate gyrus and precentral gyrus (tow-sided seed-level false discovery rate pFDR < 0.05). These effects were specific to the alcohol presentation and were absent during processing of neutral pictures. In addition, the NAc-cuneus connectivity significantly correlated with subjective alcohol cue-induced craving during the scanning session (r = 0.538, p = 0.024).

Conclusion: Results provide initial evidence for condition-specific and significant attenuation of NAc connectivity by oxytocin in a sample of heavy social drinkers that was related to lower subjective alcohol craving during the fMRI task. Oxytocin-induced attenuation of NAc connectivity was specific to processing alcohol stimuli and might reflect an attenuation of alcohol-cue saliency by oxytocin that could lead to a reduction of the sensitivity towards the appetitive aspects of alcohol cues.

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LIVE - Symposium: Novel Pharmacotherapeutic Strategies for Regaining Control over Alcohol Intake in Alcohol Use Disorder (ID 336) No Topic Needed

S0087 - Cognitive Function as a Pharmacological Treatment Target in AUD

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Live, Section
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
10:00 - 11:30
Room
Channel 3
Lecture Time
10:34 - 10:51
Presenter
LIVE - Symposium: Novel Pharmacotherapeutic Strategies for Regaining Control over Alcohol Intake in Alcohol Use Disorder (ID 336) No Topic Needed

S0088 - Baclofen Approval in France: A Balance Between Two Conceptions of Medicine

Session Icon
Live, Section
Date
Mon, 12.04.2021
Session Time
10:00 - 11:30
Room
Channel 3
Lecture Time
10:51 - 11:08
Presenter

ABSTRACT

Abstract Body

In October 2018, France became the first country to officially approve baclofen for alcohol use disorder (AUD), even if the French Drug Agency (ANSM) officially stated that the efficacy of baclofen in AUD could be not established at this stage, in the light of the available evidence. The decision of the ANSM comprised obvious political aspects, as baclofen approval followed a decade-long practice of off-label prescription, where doses used could reach 300 mg per day or more. This situation led to a prolonged and ferocious debate between those who questioned such a widespread and unevidenced practice, and those who defended the place of an “common sense” empirical medicine. The French story of baclofen echoes other similar controversial off-label prescribing practices in the country, from the pioneer use buprenorphine for opioid use disorder in the 1990s, to the more recent off-label use of hydroxychloroquine during the COVID-19 outbreak. In each case, similar “pros” and “cons” arguments were opposed, highlighting the difficult interpenetration between evidence-based medicine on the one hand, and on-the-ground practice on the other hand.

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LIVE - Symposium: Novel Pharmacotherapeutic Strategies for Regaining Control over Alcohol Intake in Alcohol Use Disorder (ID 336) No Topic Needed