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Review
. 2018 Jun;235(6):1625-1634.
doi: 10.1007/s00213-018-4843-6. Epub 2018 Feb 20.

Noradrenergic targets for the treatment of alcohol use disorder

Carolina L Haass-Koffler  1   2   3 , Robert M Swift  4   5 , Lorenzo Leggio  6   7
Affiliations
Review

Noradrenergic targets for the treatment of alcohol use disorder

Carolina L Haass-Koffler et al. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2018 Jun.

Abstract

The role of norepinephrine (NE) in the development of alcohol use disorder (AUD) has been studied over the past several decades. However, the NE system has been largely ignored for many years as a potential target for medication development for AUD. More recently, preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated the potential value of targeting NE signaling for developing new pharmacological treatments for AUD. This review contributes to a special issue of Psychopharmacology focused on promising targets for alcohol addiction. Specifically, this review coalesces preclinical and clinical neuroscience that re-evaluate the noradrenergic system, and in particular the alpha-1 receptor, as a potential target for AUD.

Keywords: Alcohol use disorder; Norepinephrine; Stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Dr. Swift has received travel and honorarium from D&A Pharma, Lundbeck and consultant fees from CT Laboratories. Drs. Haass-Koffler and Leggio report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

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