Ibudilast reduces alcohol drinking in multiple animal models of alcohol dependence
Research Date
Results from a recent NIAAA study suggest that the medication ibudilast may be viable as a potential treatment for alcohol dependence. Ibudilast, an anti-inflammatory medication that acts as a non-selective phosphodiesterase inhibitor, reduces alcohol drinking and relapse in alcohol-preferring P rats, high-alcohol drinking HAD1 rats, and in mice made dependent on alcohol through cycles of alcohol vapor exposure.
Neuroinflammatory signaling pathways in the central nervous system are of current interest as potential pharmacotherapy targets for alcohol dependence. When administered twice daily, ibudilast reduced alcohol drinking in rats by approximately 50% and reduced drinking by alcohol-dependent mice at doses which had no effect in non-dependent mice.