Influência do metabólito Alopregnanolona sobre a dependência de álcool

• Autor(a) principal: Mendes, Thaise Giovana
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Trabalho de conclusão de curso
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRN
• Texto Completo: https://repositorio.ufrn.br/handle/123456789/43268
• topic: Alopregnanolona; Allopregnanolone; Álcool; Alcohol; Etanol; Ethanol; Neuropsicologia e farmacologia

Alcohol is a licit drug, orally ingested, that can penetrate the blood brain barrier and act in different parts of the brain modulating behavioral and physiological responses, which will depend on genetics and environmental factors. When in the body, the alcohol makes changes in organs, especially in the brain. These changes are observed through the behavior exhibited by the user of the substance during acute or chronic intoxication. In a way to minimize the negative effects provoked by ethanol, studies using neurosteroids are showing some benefits for the alcohol-dependent subject. One of these neurosteroids is allopregnanolone, which is a positive allosteric modulator of GABAA receptors in the brain that produces behavior responses equally as observed during alcohol intoxication. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the relation of allopregnanolone and alcohol dependence, once alcohol ingestion is a common practice in our society even though people are aware of the damage that it causes in our body. METHODS: different studies were selected using including and excluding criteria to summarize the works involving the relevance of allopregnanolone during alcohol dependency. A range of 104 articles was chosen at PubMed resource to organize a bibliographic review. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Most of the chosen studies showed the role that allopregnanolone plays in the brain during acute or chronic alcohol abuse. Behavioral impairments such as motor coordination and spacial-memory were discussed along with analgesic and anticonvulsant effects triggered by allopregnanolone administration in humans and laboratory animals. Different doses as well as type of administration and the genetic compound of the animals studied seems to modulate the neuroesteroid response upon alcohol abuse phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS: Allopregnanolone during alcohol abuse induce addiction in users by increasing the preference and “seeking behavior” for the drug. This neuroesteroid modulates behavioral responses via pyramidal neurons and via cortex binding GABAergic receptors, promoting cognitive impairments and induced-tolerance. On the other hand, the administration of allopregnanolone during withdrawal periods seems to attenuate the symptoms caused in alcoholic dependents.