{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,9]],"date-time":"2026-03-09T00:15:52Z","timestamp":1773015352263,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,28]],"date-time":"2026-01-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769558400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,28]],"date-time":"2026-01-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769558400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["402170461 \u2013 TRR265"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["402170461 \u2013 TRR265"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Addiction Biology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Preliminary animal and human studies have shown that blood dihydrotestosterone concentrations are increased in males with alcohol use disorder, and 5\u03b1\u2010reductase inhibitors, which decrease dihydrotestosterone concentrations, reduce alcohol consumption. To gain mechanistic insight, we studied the effects of reduced dihydrotestosterone concentrations following pharmacological 5\u03b1\u2010reductase inhibition on alcohol cue\u2010elicited brain activity and alcohol craving in males with problematic alcohol use. To this end, this randomized, placebo\u2010controlled, crossover challenge experiment investigated associations between dihydrotestosterone concentrations and brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity during exposure to visual alcohol cues and alcohol craving following a single dose of 5\u2009mg finasteride versus placebo in 50 males with heavy episodic drinking. We used finasteride because it specifically inhibits 5\u03b1\u2010reductase II activity, which is the main enzyme converting testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. Dihydrotestosterone concentrations were lower in the finasteride condition in comparison to the placebo condition, but not significantly associated with brain activation patterns or craving. In the exploratory analyses, we found higher brain activity during exposure to visual stimuli in the right and left caudate nuclei, the right superior frontal gyrus and the left insula in the finasteride condition versus the placebo condition. Moreover, finasteride versus placebo was associated with a higher wish to not drink alcohol. The results of this experimental study do not support the \u00e0 priori hypothesis that dihydrotestosterone concentrations play a role in brain activation during exposure to visual alcohol cues, but indicate that finasteride effects may be mediated by other pathways. Future studies are requested to investigate the effects of reduced dihydrotestosterone concentrations over a longer time and to shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying the here observed effects of finasteride.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:bold>Trial Registration:<\/jats:bold>\n                    DRKS00020569\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/adb.70123","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,28]],"date-time":"2026-01-28T11:57:08Z","timestamp":1769601428000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Dihydrotestosterone and Finasteride Effects on Alcohol Cue\u2010Elicited Brain Activity in Males With Heavy Episodic Drinking"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"31","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7085-881X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rafat","family":"Boroumand\u2010Jazi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University  Mannheim Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9713-2939","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sabine","family":"Hoffmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University  Mannheim Germany"},{"name":"Biostatistics, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University  Mannheim Germany"},{"name":"German Center for Mental Health  Partner Site Mannheim\u2010Heidelberg\u2010Ulm Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8215-1678","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Iris","family":"Reinhard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biostatistics, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University  Mannheim Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Patrick","family":"Bach","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University  Mannheim Germany"},{"name":"German Center for Mental Health  Partner Site Mannheim\u2010Heidelberg\u2010Ulm Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5903-6521","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wolfgang\u00a0H.","family":"Sommer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Center for Mental Health  Partner Site Mannheim\u2010Heidelberg\u2010Ulm Germany"},{"name":"Institute of Psychopharmacology, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University  Mannheim Germany"},{"name":"Bethanien Hospital for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine  Greifswald Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marlene","family":"Kundlacz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim Heidelberg University  Mannheim Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christian\u00a0P.","family":"M\u00fcller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Friedrich\u2010Alexander\u2010Universit\u00e4t Erlangen\u2010N\u00fcrnberg and Universit\u00e4tsklinikum Erlangen  Erlangen 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