Alcoholism is a serious illness interfering with one’s physical, personal and social well-being. Categorizing alcoholism into early and late onset diseases has paved a way for a precise therapeutic approach. In early onset alcoholism, dysfunction in serotonergic transmission in 5HT receptors (in particular, 5HT-3 type) on terminal portion of nucleus accumbens region where its role is to regulate dopamine release, is ultimately responsible for rewarding effect associated with alcohol consumption. Ondansetron, a 5HT-3 blocker, suppresses reward effect as well as craving for alcohol consumption by controlling the release of dopamine. After the preclinical evidence, a series of clinical findings have proved Ondansetron to be an efficient treatment for early onset alcoholism. A detailed research in this direction would better establish delicate aspects pertaining to its exact mechanism and design of optimum dosage regimen.
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