Trial reportPsychopharmacology2021
Baclofen attenuates fMRI alcohol cue reactivity in treatment-seeking alcohol dependent individuals.
Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01711125 (Exploring the Efficacy and Biobehavioural Basis of Baclofen in the Treatment of Alcoholic Liver Disease), which is not on this map. Cited by 22 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Exploring the Efficacy and Biobehavioural Basis of Baclofen in the Treatment of Alcoholic Liver Disease
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Functional magnetic response imaging predictors of alcohol use disorder treatment outcome: a systematic review.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2026Pooled it
- Cue-Elicited Brain Activity and Treatment Outcomes in Substance Use Disorders: A Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of the neural substrates of monetary reward anticipation and outcome in alcohol use disorder.Human brain mapping · 2023Pooled it
- Baclofen for alcohol use disorder.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- The Use of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Test Pharmacotherapies for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Systematic Review.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2019Pooled it
- Baclofen Modulates Neural Intrinsic Functional Connectivity in Treatment-Seeking Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2026Trial
- Cannabidiol attenuates precuneus activation during appetitive cue exposure in individuals with alcohol use disorder.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Trial
- Neural cue reactivity and intrinsic functional connectivity in individuals with alcohol use disorder following treatment with topiramate or naltrexone.Psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Effects of baclofen on insular gain anticipation in alcohol-dependent patients - a randomized, placebo-controlled, pharmaco-fMRI pilot trial.Psychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Aberrant cortico-striato-limbic functional connectivity to alcohol cues in co-occurring bipolar disorder and alcohol use disorder.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Learning Mechanisms in Alcohol Use Disorders.Addiction biology · 2026Review
- The Impaired Response Inhibition and Salience Attribution Model of Drug Addiction: Recent Neuroimaging Evidence and Future Directions.Annual review of psychology · 2026Review
- The alcohol cue-exposure paradigm as a screening tool for alcohol use disorder medication development: A critical review.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Review
- The Dopamine System in Mediating Alcohol Effects in Humans.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Testing pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorder with cue exposure paradigms: A systematic review and quantitative synthesis of human laboratory trial methodology.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2023Review
- Sex-related differences in the efficacy of Baclofen enantiomers on self-administered alcohol in a binge drinking pattern and dopamine release in the core of the nucleus accumbens.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- Alcohol dependence inpatients classification with GLM and hierarchical clustering integration using fMRI data of alcohol multiple scenario cues.Experimental brain research · 2022Article
- Helpful or Harmful? The Therapeutic Potential of Medications with Varying Degrees of Abuse Liability in the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders.Current addiction reports · 2022Review
- Sex as a Potential Moderator for Baclofen Response in the Treatment of Alcohol Dependence.Frontiers in global women's health · 2022Article
- The neurobiology of drug addiction: cross-species insights into the dysfunction and recovery of the prefrontal cortex.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleBaclofen has been shown to effect fMRI alcohol cue reactivity in alcohol dependence, but potential varying effects related to baclofen dose levels have not been examined.
objectiveThis study investigated whether baclofen attenuates craving and alcohol cue-elicited activation in alcohol-dependent treatment seekers, and the relationship between this response and clinical outcomes (Morley et al. 2018; Morley et al. 2013).
methodsParticipants included 30 alcohol-dependent individuals who had received daily baclofen 30 mg (n = 11), 75 mg (n = 8) or placebo (n = 11) for at least 2 weeks. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined alcohol cue-elicited neural activation during a visual alcohol cue reactivity task 120 min following treatment administration, and alcohol cue reactivity and percentage of heavy drinking days (% HDD) associations were assessed.
resultsBoth baclofen-treated groups reported fewer post-scan % HDD when compared to the placebo-treated group, but no subjective craving group differences were found. Increased alcohol cue-elicited activation was seen in placebo compared to the 75 mg/day baclofen participants in two clusters spanning prefrontal regions implicated in cue reactivity, chiefly frontal regions (i.e., frontal and precentral gyri, anterior cingulate cortex), but no observed alcohol cue reactivity differences between placebo and 30 mg/day baclofen groups. Post-scan % HDD was positively correlated with increased alcohol cue-elicited activation in a cluster encompassing the bilateral caudate nucleus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex when comparing placebo versus 75 mg/day baclofen groups, and several clusters including prefrontal and mesolimbic regions when comparing placebo versus 30 mg/day baclofen groups.
conclusionsBaclofen administration attenuates alcohol cue-elicited activation and reduced the association in baclofen-treated participants between increased activity in key drug cue reactivity regions and higher post-scan % HDD observed in placebo-treated participants, suggesting a dose-specific response effect that may lead to reduced heavy drinking in chronic alcohol-dependent individuals.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov , NCT01711125, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show /NCT01711125.
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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 OpenQuestion graph.