Acute oral administration of the novel, competitive and selective glucocorticoid receptor antagonist ORG 34517 reduces the severity of ethanol withdrawal and related hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation

The present findings demonstrate that repeated ethanol exposure and withdrawal is associated with significant behavioral abnormalities and dysregulation of HPA axis activation. Further these data suggest that selective GR antagonists should be further considered as putative pharmacotherapies for treatment of ethanol dependence.