Alcoholism is a widespread behavioral disorder with excessive consumption of alcohol, resulting in alcohol dependence with aversive symptoms upon alcohol withdrawal. Depending on various modulating factors such as genetic predisposition, provocative environmental experiences, social context, pharmacological history and others alcohol consumption can become compulsive, and finally an addictive behavior might evolve. Withdrawal from chronic ethanol exposure has been associated with heightened anxiety and severe physical symptoms, such as tremors, nausea, sweating, increased heart rate, and increased risk of convulsions. Ethanol withdrawal has been postulated to be associated with specific molecular mechanisms and neuroadaptive changes that may lead to an increased and persistent anxiety state. The present study set out to investigate the effects of 6-Shogaol in ethanol-dependent mice using Fluoxetine as a control. Measures made in this model were consistent with literature data in that a daily ethanol consumption ranging from 24 to 30 g/kg yielding ethanol blood level close to 2 g/L (43 mM) produced the emergence of symptoms such as hyperexcitability and heightened anxiety due to ethanol treatment cessation in mice. This report shows that ethanol-withdrawal on chronic administration decreases the no. of entries of mice in the light area, and acute as well as chronic treatment with 6-Shogaol dose dependently reverses their response.
