# Interactions of Ethanol & Cocaine Self-Administration in Monkeys

> **NIH NIH R01** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $346,336

## Abstract

Project Summary
Cocaine abuse remains a significant public health problem for which there are no widely useful
pharmacotherapies. Many preclinical leads have been generated that have not translated into successful
medications for cocaine dependence. One reason for this failure may be that, although up to 90% of cocaine
abusers also abuse alcohol, the medications development process (both preclinical animal experiments and
early clinical testing of putative medications) has taken place in subjects with no exposure to alcohol. What
little data that exists regarding cocaine/ethanol interactions suggests that this may represent a significant
confound; ethanol can enhance some effects of cocaine in animals and humans and attenuate others.
Moreover, recent clinical trials have shown that a history of alcohol dependence can reduce the ability of
medications to decrease cocaine use. The proposed studies are designed to determine how long-term ethanol
drinking alters the abuse-related effects of cocaine and vice versa in nonhuman primate models. First, we will
determine whether prior ethanol exposure alters acquisition and maintenance (6 months) of cocaine self-
administration. Parallel brain imaging studies using positron emission tomography (PET) will characterize how
self-administration of ethanol, cocaine or the combination changes the availability of brain D2-like and D3
dopamine receptors, which have been implicated in both cocaine and ethanol abuse and have been suggested
as targets for pharmacotherapy development. We will then examine whether these brain imaging measures
correlate with the ability of potential pharmacotherapies to decrease cocaine use. Significant relationships
would indicate that such measures could be used by physicians as biomarkers for behavioral phenotypes and
for treatment effectiveness. Finally, the effects of self-administered cocaine on subsequent ethanol self-
administration will be determined. Taken together, these studies will provide novel translatable data describing
the effects of ethanol and cocaine on each other's abuse-related effects and, by characterizing precisely how
combined use of these drugs alters DA receptors, will provide novel information to help guide treatment
decisions for the large majority of cocaine users who concurrently abuse alcohol.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9949686
- **Project number:** 5R01DA039953-05
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Paul W. Czoty
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $346,336
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-15 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9949686

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9949686, Interactions of Ethanol & Cocaine Self-Administration in Monkeys (5R01DA039953-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9949686. Licensed CC0.

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