Topic: DOPAMINE AND COGNITION Room: QUARTÉ DOPAMINE – RELATED LEARNING DYSFUNCTIONS IN ADDICTION

Background The main system of central ethanol oxidation is mediated by the enzyme catalase. By reacting with H2O2, brain catalase forms compound I (the catalase-H2O2 system), which is able to oxidize ethanol to acetaldehyde (ACD) in the brain. We have previously shown that ACD regu-lates ethanol motivational properties and possesses reinforcing effects by itself. In the present study, we investigate the effects of alphalipoic acid (ALA), a scavenging agent for H2O2, on oral ethanol self-administration. Methods To this end, we trained Wistar rats to orally self-administer ethanol (10%) by nose pok-ing. The effect of intraperitoneal pretreatment with ALA was evaluated during a) maintenance of ethanol self-administration, b) ethanol selfadministration under a progressive-ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement, and c) oral ethanol priming to induce reinstatement of ethanol seeking behavior. Moreover, we tested the effect of ALA on saccharin (0.05%) reinforcement, as assessed by oral self-administration. Results The results indicate that ALA dose-dependently reduced the maintenance, the break point of ethanol self-administration under a PR and the reinstatement of ethanol seeking behaviour with-out suppressing saccharin self-administration. Conclusions These results support that ALA may have a potential use in alcoholism treatment.