Reduction in severity of physical dependence on ethanol in mice caused by desferrioxamine administration.

Male Swiss mice, when exposed to increasing concentrations of ethanol vapor for a period of 9 days, developed tolerance to as well as physical dependence on ethanol. Desferrioxamine, an iron-chelator and a lipid peroxidation inhibitor, administered to individual mice at a daily dose of 350 mg/kg body weight, caused a reduction in the degree of dependence but not of tolerance. Also, desferrioxamine protected the mice against the reduction in body weight increment observed over the inhalation period. It is suggested that desferrioxamine acts either via inhibiting the ethanol-induced lipid peroxidation, suspected to be involved in dependence, or via a different iron-sensitive mechanism.