ABSTRACT
It is believed that in some psychiatric disorders there is a changed activity in the pathways of the central nervous system which utilises the monoamines as transmitters. In affective disorders and schizophrenic pschoses as well as in the dementia disorders of old age this assumption is made. Chronic ethanol administration induces fluctuations in mood and can also cause a clinical syndrome characterised by dementia. From animal experiments it is known that short periods of ethanol administration may increase catecholamine metabolism in mice, but this system is unaffected in rats. When ethanol has been administered to mice for several months the dopamine levels are elevated and after the withdrawal of chronic ethanol administration there appears to be an increased activity in both central dopamine and noradrenaline neurons (liljequist, 1979).
