Suppression by gamma-hydroxybutyric acid of "alcohol deprivation effect" in rats: Preclinical evidence of its anti-relapse properties

Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) reduces (a) alcohol intake and alcohol motivational properties in alcohol-preferring rats and (b) alcohol drinking and craving for alcohol in human alcoholics. The present study was designed to extend to relapse-like drinking the capacity of GHB to suppress different alcohol-related behaviors in alcohol-preferring rats. The "alcohol deprivation effect", defined as the temporary increase in alcohol intake occurring in laboratory animals after a period of alcohol deprivation, was used as model of alcohol relapse. Acute administration of non-sedative doses of GHB (0, 100, 200, and 300 mg/kg, i.p.) resulted in the complete suppression of the extra-amount of alcohol consumed by Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) rats during the first hour of re-access to alcohol after a 14-day period of deprivation. These data demonstrate that GHB suppressed relapse-like drinking in a rat model of excessive alcohol consumption.