Chunk #39 — 3 Neural Substrates for the Negative Emotional State Associated with Alcoholism — 3.2 Between-System Neuroadaptations that Contribute to Compulsivity Associated with the Dark Side of Alcoholism
More specifically, alcohol withdrawal reliably produces anxiety-like responses in animal models that can be reversed by CRF receptor antagonists (Koob 2008a). Ethanol withdrawal produces anxiety-like behavior that is reversed by intracerebroventricular administration of CRF1/CRF2 peptidergic antagonists (Baldwin et al. 1991), small-molecule CRF1 antagonists (Knapp et al. 2004; Overstreet et al. 2004; Funk et al. 2007), and intracerebral administration of a peptidergic CRF1/CRF2 antagonist into the amygdala (Rassnick et al. 1993). CRF antagonists injected intracerebroventricularly or systemically also block the potentiated anxiety-like responses to stressors observed during protracted abstinence from chronic ethanol (Breese et al. 2005; Valdez et al. 2003; Sommer et al. 2008).
