COMBINING NALTREXONE AND PRAZOSIN IN A SINGLE ORAL MEDICATION DECREASES ALCOHOL DRINKING MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN DOES EITHER DRUG ALONE

摘要

BACKGROUNDNaltrexone (NTX) is under-utilized in clinical treatment settings because it’s efficacy is modest, it is not effective for all alcoholics and, when it is effective, a significant number of alcoholics fail to maintain initial treatment gains and subsequently relapse to heavy drinking. This has slowed acceptance of NTX by the treatment community and there is a clear need for additional treatments for alcoholism and alcohol use disorders. Given that NTX and prazosin can each reduce alcohol drinking in rats selectively bred for alcohol preference and high voluntary alcohol drinking (alcohol-preferring “P” rats), we tested whether a combination of NTX + prazosin is more effective in decreasing alcohol drinking than is either drug alone.