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Description
Background: About 7% of the global adult population has been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder, and this harmful use of alcohol is associated with several neuropsychiatric deficits. Current pharmacotherapies treat a limited range of these deficits, often necessitating the use polypharmacy, which can lead to non-adherence and treatment failure. Therefore, new treatment modalities that can target a broader spectrum of alcohol-induced neuropsychiatric deficits are needed. Xylopic acid (XA) has been shown to possess multiple pharmacological activities, making it a potential agent to resolve various alcohol-induced neuropsychiatric deficits.
Aim: To investigate the effect of XA on alcohol-induced neuropsychiatric deficits using rat models.
Methods: Voluntary alcohol-consuming behaviour was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 40) with 20% ethanol via intermittent access two-bottle choice (IA2BC) paradigm for 8 weeks. Single doses of XA (30, 100, 300 mg/kg p. o.) were administered to rats and behavioural tests were performed to assess alcohol-induced depression, anxiety, motor incoordination, hyperalgesia and allodynia was then determined.
Results: XA significantly reduced depression-like (F(3, 32) = 2.727, P = 0.0464) and anxiety-like (F(3, 34) = 10.150, P < 0.0001) behaviours, allodynia from mechanical stimulus (F(3, 33) = 17.760, P < 0.0001), and hyperalgesia from cold (F(3, 31) = 27.370, P < 0.0001) and heat (F(3, 34) = 10.510, P < 0.0001) stimuli. XA also significantly improved motor coordination (F(3, 32) = 3.059, P = 0.0305) in alcohol-exposed rats.
Conclusion: XA ameliorates alcohol-induced neuropsychiatric deficits in rats.