Section 2 Clinical Studies

**17**

**Chapter 2**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

around 16% and 30%, respectively [2].

Rethinking the Use of

*Raquel Gómez de Heras and Laura Orio*

Neurogenesis

Antidepressants to Treat Alcohol

*Antonio Ballesta, Francisco Alén, Fernando Rodríguez de Fonseca,* 

Patients with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are frequently treated with antidepressant drugs (ADs), but clinical evidence of their efficacy is contradictory. Considering that ADs are thought to produce their therapeutic effects partially by increasing hippocampal plasticity and neurogenesis (HN), and that both AUDs and depression share a potential for the disruption of these neuroplastic processes, one could reasonably wonder whether the poor efficacy of AD treatment could be explained by the inability of these drugs to exert their proper action in patients suffering from AUD or depression. In order to further clarify this question, this chapter aims to examine available data regarding the effect of ADs on behavioral and HN alterations related to alcohol abstinence, as a key period in which the treatment would be implemented and in which their potential effects on alcohol-related problems remain under controversy.

Use Disorders and Depression

Comorbidity: The Role of

**Keywords:** alcohol use disorders (AUDs), antidepressants (ADs),

hippocampal neurogenesis (HN), depression, comorbidity, alcohol withdrawal

AUD is a chronic relapsing brain disease characterized by the presence of various symptoms, such as physically hazardous alcohol drinking, tolerance, withdrawal, or craving related to alcohol consumption, whereas MD is a psychiatric disorder characterized by low mood, anhedonia, insomnia, low motivation, apathy, and feelings of guilt, among other symptoms [1]. Epidemiological studies have shown a strong relationship between alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and depression. Indeed, the prevalence of current or lifetime alcohol problems in depression is estimated

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis (HN) is a complex multistep process by which neural progenitor cells (NPCs) divide throughout life and give rise to new functional neurons in restricted regions of the adult mammalian brain (**Figure 1**, and also described in [3]). The dentate gyrus of the hippocampus is one of the brain areas that respond to stimuli through multiple mechanisms that allow the proliferation,

#### **Chapter 2**
