Toward a Molecular Basis of Alcohol Use and Abuse

Perspectives.- Alcohol in human history.- Section 1: Neuropharmacological aspects.- Reward and its control by dynorphin peptides.- Adaptation of signal transduction in brain.- Protein kinase C and adaptation to ethanol.- Molecular control of neuronal survival in the chick embryo.- Effects of alcohol on gene expression in neural cells.- The role of the NMDA receptor in ethanol withdrawal.- Molecular diversity of glutamate receptors and their physiological functions.- Multiple dopamine receptors: The D3 receptor and actions of substances of abuse.- Molecular pharmacology of serotonin receptors.- Alcohol, the reward system and dependence.- Section 2: Biological markers and special clinical features.- Clinical aspects on molecular probes, markers and metabolism.- Familial alcoholism. Family, twin adoption and high risk studies.- Association strategies in substance abuse.- PET-determination of benzodiazepine receptor binding in studies on alcoholism.- Serotonin, violent behavior and alcohol.- Neuropeptides and alcohol addiction in monkeys.- The role of adenosine in mediating cellular and molecular responses to ethanol.- Helicobacter pylori alcohol dehydrogenase.- Genetic polymorphism of cytochrome P450. Functional consequences and possible relationship to disease and alcohol toxicity.- Serotonin-altering medications and desire, consumption and effects of alcohol - treatment implications.- Section 3: Enzymatic aspects.- The alcohol dehydrogenase system.- Drug metabolism and signal transduction: Possible role of Ah receptor and arachidonic acid cascade in protection from ethanol toxicity.- Recruitment of enzymes and stress proteins as lens crystallins.- X-ray structure of PQQ-dependent methanol dehydrogenase.- NMR, alcohols, protein solvation and protein denaturation.-Crystallographic investigations of alcohol dehydrogenases.- Retinoids and the alcohol dehydrogenase gene family.- Alcohol and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase gene polymorphism and alcoholism.- Site-directed mutagenesis and enzyme properties of mammalian alcohol dehydrogenases correlated with their tissue distribution.- Control of alcohol metabolism.- Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and alcohol abuse.- Section 4: Clinical aspects and pharmacological approaches.- Treatment of alcoholism.- Alcohol sensitivity and dependence.- Treatment of alcoholism as a chronic disorder.- Addiction and the potential for therapeutic drug development.- Therapeutic lessons from traditional Oriental medicine to contemporary Occidental pharmacology.- Potential gene therapy for alcoholism.- Outlook: Prospects for alcoholism treatment.