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To support the free and open dissemination of research findings and information on alcoholism and alcohol-related problems. To encourage open access to peer-reviewed articles free for all to view.

For full versions of posted research articles readers are encouraged to email requests for "electronic reprints" (text file, PDF files, FAX copies) to the corresponding or lead author, who is highlighted in the posting.

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Clinician Scientist Garbutt Translates Animal Research to Advances in Clinical Medicine
Center Line NewsletterVolume 19, Number 2, June 2008

One in ten Americans grapples with alcoholism at some time during their life. Alcohol-dependent individuals face a challenge notoriously difficult to overcome, and more than 75% of alcoholics who seek treatment relapse to drinking within the first year. Dr. James C. Garbutt of the University of North Carolina’s Department of Psychiatry, the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program, and the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, is working to improve this statistic. Both a psychiatrist and a scientist, Garbutt is adept at identifying potential clinical applications of findings from animal models. Likewise, he is skilled in planning and implementing studies that translate concepts gleaned from basic research into clinical advances.


Garbutt’s work with the drug baclofen illustrates his facility in these regards. Baclofen acts on the brain’s GABAergic system, which is important in mediating alcohol intake and mood, among other functions. Garbutt was motivated to investigate the effects of baclofen on drinking in alcoholics by basic research showing that baclofen reduces alcohol intake in several animal models and attenuates the anxiety induced by repeated exposure to alcohol in alcohol-dependent animals. . . . . . .

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