Commonalities and Distinctions Among Mechanisms of Addiction to Alcohol and Other Drugs

• Published in: Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research Vol. 39; no. 10; pp. 1863 - 1877
• Main Authors: Ozburn, Angela R., Janowsky, Aaron J., Crabbe, John C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-10-2015; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Addiction; Alcohol; Alcoholism - genetics; Alcoholism - physiopathology; Animal Models; Animals; Behavior, Addictive - genetics; Behavior, Addictive - physiopathology; Cocaine; Disease Models, Animal; Drugs; Drugs of Abuse; Genomics; Humans; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Self Administration; Substance-Related Disorders - genetics; Substance-Related Disorders - physiopathology; Transcriptome; Alcohol; Cocaine; Addiction; Drugs of Abuse; Animal Models
• ISSN: 0145-6008; 1530-0277
• DOI: 10.1111/acer.12810

Background
Alcohol abuse is comorbid with abuse of many other drugs, some with similar pharmacology and others quite different. This leads to the hypothesis of an underlying, unitary dysfunctional neurobiological basis for substance abuse risk and consequences.
Methods
In this review, we discuss commonalities and distinctions of addiction to alcohol and other drugs. We focus on recent advances in preclinical studies using rodent models of drug self‐administration.
Results
While there are specific behavioral and molecular manifestations common to alcohol, psychostimulant, opioid, and nicotine dependence, attempts to propose a unifying theory of the addictions inevitably face details where distinctions are found among classes of drugs.
Conclusions
For alcohol, versus other drugs of abuse, we discuss and compare advances in: (i) neurocircuitry important for the different stages of drug dependence; (ii) transcriptomics and genetical genomics; and (iii) enduring effects, noting in particular the contributions of behavioral genetics and animal models.