Effects of VM Novel Compound II on Intake of Ethanol, Plain Water, and Sugar Water in C57BL/6J Mice
Alcoholism is one of the most severe and widespread disorders. Treatments for alcoholism include psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, but success is limited. New medications are needed. Animal models are particularly useful for screening new compounds. This experiment used the Drinking-in-the-Dark model to screen VM Novel Compound II, a protein kinase C-epsilon inhibitor hypothesized to reduce alcohol intake. C57BL/6J mice, a strain genetically predisposed to drink ethanol, were used as test subjects. Mice were injected with VM Novel Compound II biweekly with randomly assigned dosages and then administered a 20% ethanol solution, plain tap water, or sugar water. VM Novel Compound II significantly reduced alcohol intake at a dose of 50 mg/kg. VM Novel Compound II did not significantly reduce plain tap water intake or sugar water intake, except for a trend at the highest dose. In conclusion, VM Novel Compound II may be effective for reducing ethanol intake while not significantly affecting motivation for water or sugar rewards. However, VM Novel Compound II requires further testing to confirm efficacy and to evaluate toxicity before proceeding to clinical trials.