LSD Administered as a Single Dose Reduces Alcohol Consumption in C57BL/6J Mice
Kenneth Alper, Bin Dong, Relish Shah, Henry Sershen, Vinod Kumar
Frontiers in Pharmacology August 31, 2018 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2018.00994 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Adult male C57BL/6J mice |
| Intervention | LSD |
| Dose | 25 or 50 μg/kg |
| Duration | 46 days following LSD administration |
| Topics | LSD |
| Keywords | Ethanol Hallucinogen Pharmacology Alcohol consumption Intraperitoneal injection Animal model Saline Toxicology |
| Citations | 37 |
| Key findings | A single 50 μg/kg dose of LSD reduced ethanol consumption and preference in mice over 46 days, while 25 μg/kg had no significant effect. |
Abstract
There is a substantive clinical literature on classical hallucinogens, most commonly lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for the treatment of alcohol use disorder. However, there has been no published research on the effect of LSD on alcohol consumption in animals. This study evaluated the effect of LSD in mice using a two-bottle choice alcohol drinking paradigm. Adult male C57BL/6J mice were exposed to ethanol to develop preference and divided into three groups of equal ethanol consumption, and then treated with single intraperitoneal injection of saline or 25 or 50 μg/kg LSD and offered water and 20% ethanol. The respective LSD-treated groups were compared to the control group utilizing a multilevel model for repeated measures. In mice treated with 50 μg/kg LSD ethanol consumption was reduced relative to controls (p = 0.0035), as was ethanol preference (p = 0.0024), with a group mean reduction of ethanol consumption of 17.9% sustained over an interval of 46 days following LSD administration. No significant effects on ethanol consumption or preference were observed in mice treated with 25 μg/kg LSD. Neither total fluid intake nor locomotor activity in the LSD-treated groups differed significantly from controls. These results suggest that classical hallucinogens in the animal model merit further study as a potential approach to the identification of targets for drug discovery and investigation of the neurobiology of addiction.
Comparable studies
Other preclinical and animal studies on LSD, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 33
- Beyond the 5-HT2A Receptor: Classic and Nonclassic Targets in Psychedelic Drug Action. Journal of Neuroscience November 8, 2023
- Psilocybin and LSD have no long-lasting effects in an animal model of alcohol relapse Neuropsychopharmacology May 5, 2020
- Classic and non‐classic psychedelics for substance use disorder: A review of their historic, past and current research Addiction Neuroscience June 22, 2022
- Mechanisms and molecular targets surrounding the potential therapeutic effects of psychedelics. Molecular Psychiatry September 1, 2023
- Classic psychedelics and alcohol use disorders: A systematic review of human and animal studies Addiction Biology August 31, 2022
and 28 more in the library
Cites 14
- Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer: a randomized controlled trial Journal of Psychopharmacology November 30, 2016
- Psilocybin-assisted treatment for alcohol dependence: A proof-of-concept study Journal of Psychopharmacology January 13, 2015
- Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for alcoholism: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Journal of Psychopharmacology March 8, 2012
- Hallucinogens and Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor-Mediated Signaling Pathways Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences 2017
- Alterations of consciousness and mystical-type experiences after acute LSD in humans Psychopharmacology October 7, 2016
and 9 more in the library