Biobehavioural basis of pharmacologic treatment of alcohol dependence.

In devising pharmacological treatments for alcohol dependence, attention has to be directed to drugs which manipulate the neurobiological basis of ethanol's reinforcing properties and which do so with an acceptable margin of safety. This paper will review four main issues; the meaning of "craving", the role of serotonin in the neuroregulation of ethanol consumption and the effect of serotonergic drugs on ethanol intake, the role of other neurotransmitter systems, and how pharmacological treatments can be combined with psychosocial approaches.