Effects of Finasteride on Chronic and Acute Ethanol Withdrawal Severity in the WSP and WSR Selected Lines

The study examined the effect of finasteride on chronic and acute ethanol withdrawal severity in selectively bred Withdrawal Seizure-Prone (WSP) and Withdrawal Seizure-Resistant (WSR) mice. The results showed that finasteride pretreatment reduced EtOH withdrawal severity and anxiety-related behavior in both chronic EtOH studies in WSP and WSR mice, but only in the WSP selected line for acute EtOH withdrawal severity. However, finasteride pretreatment produced a significant enhancement of acute ethanol withdrawal severity in one of the selected lines of mice. Overall, these findings suggest that minimizing any effect of finasteride on ethanol pharmacokinetics might produce an increase in ethanol withdrawal severity.