ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2020
Lower brain fatty acid amide hydrolase in treatment-seeking patients with alcohol use disorder: a positron emission tomography study with [C-11]CURB.
Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Modulating the endocannabinoid system in alcohol use disorder: A translational systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical and human studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Peripheral endocannabinoids in major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder: a systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Contribution of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase to Alcohol Use Disorder: A Systematic Review.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of acute alcohol administration on circulating endocannabinoid levels in humans.Addiction biology · 2022Trial
- Associations of endocannabinoid serum concentrations with behavioral impulsivity and substance use in late childhood to early adolescence.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Towards Mechanism-Informed Treatments for Mental Health.Journal of neurochemistry · 2026Review
- Endocannabinoid system gene expression in mesocorticolimbic brain regions of individuals with alcohol use disorder: A descriptive study.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Observational
- PET Molecular Imaging of the Endocannabinoid System in Psychiatric Disorders.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Cannabinoid-based Pharmacology for the Management of Substance Use Disorders.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2026Review
- FAAH and MAGL inhibition: Evolving approaches to treating substance use disorders.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026Review
- The Role of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase, a Key Regulatory Endocannabinoid Enzyme, in Domain-Specific Cognitive Performance in Psychosis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2025Article
- Radiopharmaceuticals and their applications in medicine.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2025Review
- Endocannabinoids and related lipids linked to social exclusion in individuals with chronic non-medical prescription opioid use.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Region-Specific Gene Expression Changes Associated with Oleoylethanolamide-Induced Attenuation of Alcohol Self-Administration.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- The endocannabinoid system as a putative target for the development of novel drugs for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses.Psychological medicine · 2023Review
- Plasma endocannabinoids in cocaine dependence and their relation to cerebral metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 density.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- Review
- Circulating Endocannabinoids and N-Acylethanolamines in Individuals with Cannabis Use Disorder-Preliminary Findings.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Functional Variation in theGenes · 2023Article
- Biomarkers of the Endocannabinoid System in Substance Use Disorders.Biomolecules · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The endocannabinoid enzyme, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), has been proposed as a therapeutic target for alcohol use disorder (AUD) and co-morbid psychiatric illnesses. Investigating this target in the living human brain and its relationship to clinical outcome is a critical step of informed drug development. Our objective was to establish whether brain FAAH levels are low in individuals with AUD and related to drinking behavior. In this pilot study, treatment-seeking patients with AUD completed two PET scans with the FAAH radiotracer [C-11]CURB after 3-7 days (n = 14) and 2-4 weeks (n = 9) of monitored abstinence. Healthy controls (n = 25) completed one scan. FAAH genetic polymorphism (rs324420) and blood concentrations of anandamide and other N-acylethanolamines metabolized by FAAH were determined and AUD symptoms assessed. In AUD, brain FAAH levels were globally lower than controls during early abstinence (F(1,36) = 5.447; p = 0.025)) and FAAH substrates (anandamide, oleoylethanolamide, and N-docosahexaenoylethanolamide) were significantly elevated (30-67%). No significant differences in FAAH or FAAH substrates were noted after 2-4 weeks abstinence. FAAH levels negatively correlated with drinks per week (r = -0.57, p = 0.032) and plasma concentrations of the three FAAH substrates (r > 0.57; p < 0.04)). Our findings suggest that early abstinence from alcohol in AUD is associated with transiently low brain FAAH levels, which are inversely related to heavier alcohol use and elevated plasma levels of FAAH substrates. Whether low FAAH is an adaptive beneficial response to chronic alcohol is unknown. Therapeutic strategies focusing on FAAH inhibition should consider the possibility that low FAAH during early abstinence may be related to drinking.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.