Abstract

Previous studies suggest that acetaldehyde generated from ethanol in the brain is reinforcing. The present studies tested the feasibility of achieving a long-term reduction of chronic and post-deprivation binge ethanol drinking by a single administration into the brain ventral tegmental area (VTA) of a lentiviral vector that codes for aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2), which degrades acetaldehyde. The ALDH2 gene coding vector or a control lentiviral vector were microinjected into the VTA of rats bred for their alcohol preference. In the chronic alcohol administration model, naïve animals administered the control vector and subsequently offered 10% ethanol and water ingested 8–9 g ethanol/kg body weight/day. The single administration of the ALDH2-coding vector prior to allowing ethanol availability reduced ethanol drinking by 85–90% (P < 0.001) for the 45 days tested. In the post-deprivation binge-drinking model, animals that had previously consumed ethanol chronically for 81 days were administered the lentiviral vector and were thereafter deprived of ethanol for three 7-day periods, each interrupted by a single 60-minute ethanol re-access after the last day of each deprivation period. Upon ethanol re-access, control vector-treated animals consumed intoxicating ‘binge’ amounts of ethanol, reaching intakes of 2.7 g ethanol/kg body weight in 60 minutes. The administration of the ALDH2-coding vector reduced re-access binge drinking by 75–80% (P < 0.001). This study shows that endowing the ventral tegmental with an increased ability to degrade acetaldehyde greatly reduces chronic alcohol consumption and post-deprivation binge drinking for prolonged periods and supports the hypothesis that brain-generated acetaldehyde promotes alcohol drinking.