Important publication from subproject A08

A research group from the TRR has published the central paper of subproject A08 in the journal Addiction Biology. The study was conducted under the supervision of Bernd Lenz, with Rafat Boroumand Jazi as first author.

The researchers investigated how hormonal processes are linked to alcohol cues in the brain and whether the medication finasteride influences neural responses to alcohol related stimuli. In a randomized, placebo controlled crossover study involving men with episodic heavy alcohol consumption, functional MRI was used to measure how the brain reacts to visual alcohol cues.

Although the reduction of the hormone dihydrotestosterone was not directly associated with brain activity or subjective craving for alcohol, finasteride produced changes in brain regions important for reward processing and behavioral control. Participants also reported a stronger desire to refrain from drinking alcohol while taking finasteride.

The findings provide important new insights into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying problematic alcohol consumption and open perspectives for future therapeutic approaches.

Boroumand-Jazi et al., Addiction Biology (2026)