Increased risk of severe neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome in pregnancies with low placental ABCB1 DNA methylation.

Background: Neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) is unpredictable. We assessed relationships between placental DNA methylation with in-utero opioid exposure and NOWS severity.

Methods: Secondary analysis of a prospective multicenter cohort study of pregnancies on methadone or buprenorphine, ≥34 weeks, singleton, 18 or greater.

Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Dutasteride for Reducing Heavy Drinking in Men.

Background: Prior studies indicate that neuroactive steroids mediate some of alcohol's effects. Dutasteride, widely used to treat benign prostatic hypertrophy, is an inhibitor of 5-alpha reductase enzymes, which play a central role in the production of 5α-reduced neuroactive steroids. The purpose of this study was to test dutasteride's tolerability and efficacy for reducing drinking.

Baseline gut microbiome and metabolites are correlated with alcohol consumption in a zonisamide clinical trial of heavy drinking alcoholic civilians.

Development and severity of alcohol use disorder (AUD) has been linked to variations in gut microbiota and their associated metabolites in both animal and human studies. However, the involvement of the gut microbiome in alcohol consumption of individuals with AUD undergoing treatment remains unclear. To address this, stool samples (n=48) were collected at screening (baseline) and trial completion from a single site of a multi-site double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Zonisamide in individuals with AUD.

Short-chain-fatty acid valerate reduces voluntary alcohol intake in male mice.

Background: Despite serious health and social consequences, effective intervention strategies for habitual alcohol binge drinking are lacking. Development of novel therapeutic and preventative approaches is highly desirable. Accumulating evidence in the past several years has established associations between the gut microbiome and microbial metabolites with drinking behavior, but druggable targets and their underlying mechanism of action are understudied.