Alcohol conditioned contexts enhance positive subjective alcohol effects and consumption.

Associations between alcohol and the places it is consumed are important at all stages of alcohol abuse and addiction. However, it is not clear how the associations are formed in humans or how they influence drinking, and there are few effective strategies to prevent their pathological effects on alcohol use. We used a human laboratory model to study the effects of alcohol environments on alcohol consumption.

Dose-related effects of delta-9-THC on emotional responses to acute psychosocial stress.

Objectives: Cannabis smokers often report that they use the drug to relax or to relieve emotional stress. However, few clinical studies have shown evidence of the stress-relieving effects of cannabis or cannabinoid agonists. In this study, we sought to assess the influence of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a main active ingredient of cannabis, upon emotional responses to an acute psychosocial stressor among healthy young adults.

Test-retest reliability of the underlying latent factor structure of alcohol subjective response.

Rationale: Alcohol subjective experiences are multi-dimensional and demonstrate wide inter-individual variability. Recent efforts have sought to establish a clearer understanding of subjective alcohol responses by identifying core constructs derived from multiple measurement instruments.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the temporal stability of this approach to conceptualizing alcohol subjective experiences across successive alcohol administrations in the same individuals.

The Dietary Flavonoid Rhamnetin Inhibits Both Inflammation and Excitotoxicity During Ethanol Withdrawal in Rat Organotypic Hippocampal Slice Cultures.

Background: Ethanol (EtOH) causes neurotoxicity via several mechanisms including neuroinflammation (during EtOH exposure), and excitotoxicity (during EtOH withdrawal [EWD]). Alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) selective agonists have the potential to reduce both. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective potential of rhamnetin, a dietary flavonoid with alpha7 nAChR selective activity, in an in vitro model of EtOH-induced neurotoxicity.

Altered relation between lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory response and excitotoxicity in rat organotypic hippocampal slice cultures during ethanol withdrawal.

Background: Ethanol (EtOH) causes neurotoxicity by several mechanisms including excitotoxicity and neuroinflammation, but little is known about the interaction between these mechanisms. Because neuroinflammation is known to enhance excitotoxicity, we hypothesized that neuroinflammation contributes to the enhanced excitotoxicity, which is associated with EtOH withdrawal (EWD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory response of cultured hippocampal tissue during EWD and its effects on the enhanced N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated excitotoxicity, which occurs at this time.

A nicotinic receptor-mediated anti-inflammatory effect of the flavonoid rhamnetin in BV2 microglia.

The alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is a potential target in neuroinflammation. Screening a plant extract library identified Solidago nemoralis as containing methyl-quercetin derivatives that are relatively selective ligands for the alpha7 nAChR. Flavonoids are not known for this activity, so we screened a small library of pure flavonoids to confirm our findings.