Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2011 Apr;35(4):581-3. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01454.x. Epub 2011 Feb 25.
This commentary discusses a study by Karahanian and colleagues (2011) on the role of central nervous system acetaldehyde in the reinforcing effects of ethanol. The goal is to emphasize the importance of the study and to discuss future directions.
This important paper solidifies the idea that the levels of acetaldehyde in the central nervous system have profound effects in mediating the reinforcing actions of ethanol. This is accomplished by manipulating the brain levels of acetaldehyde produced from ethanol by the injection of lentivirus containing either an anti-catalase shRNA construct or a rat liver alcohol dehydrogenase into the central nervous system and observing the effects on alcohol preference by high ethanol-consuming rats. A factor not directly considered is that acetaldehyde is further metabolized to acetate, which also has some behavioral actions.
The efficacy of lentivirus injections of enzyme inhibitors or enzymes themselves to alter a behavioral response to ethanol is clearly demonstrated here. The many other actions of ethanol that are postulated to be a result of the production of acetaldehyde in the brain remain to be investigated by similar techniques. Possible "therapeutic avenues to reduce chronic alcohol use" are envisioned.
本文评论了 Karahanian 及其同事（2011）关于中枢神经系统乙醛在乙醇强化作用中的作用的研究。目的是强调这项研究的重要性，并讨论未来的方向。
这篇重要的论文巩固了这样一种观点，即中枢神经系统中乙醛的水平对介导乙醇的强化作用有深远的影响。这是通过向中枢神经系统注射含有抗过氧化氢酶 shRNA 构建体或大鼠肝醇脱氢酶的慢病毒来操纵由乙醇产生的乙醛的脑水平，并观察其对高乙醇消耗大鼠的酒精偏好的影响来实现的。一个没有直接考虑的因素是，乙醛进一步代谢为醋酸盐，醋酸盐也具有一些行为作用。
这里清楚地证明了慢病毒注射酶抑制剂或酶本身来改变对乙醇的行为反应的功效。许多其他被认为是由于大脑中乙醛产生的乙醇作用仍有待类似技术进行研究。可以设想“减少慢性酒精使用的治疗途径”。
