EBioMedicineJan 8, 2026

Tirzepatide lowers alcohol drinking and relapse-like behavior in rodents

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jun 27, 2026

Abstract

Essence

Tirzepatide reduced alcohol reward, voluntary drinking, binge drinking, and relapse-like drinking in rodent models.

Evidence

This was a preclinical rodent study using behavioral assays, alcohol intake paradigms, and molecular analyses.

Caveat

The findings are limited to rodents and do not establish human efficacy or safety for alcohol use disorder.

Simplified

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) remains a major public health problem, with few effective medications currently available. However, peptides of the gut-brain axis appear to offer promising therapeutic targets for AUD as they influence the mesolimbic reward circuitry.

METHODS: Here, we examined the effects of tirzepatide, a long-acting dual glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR) agonist approved for diabetes and obesity, using behavioural assays (locomotor activity and conditioned place preference), alcohol intake paradigms (intermittent access two-bottle choice, drinking in the dark and the alcohol deprivation effect), and molecular analyses (microdialysis, electrophysiology and proteomics) in rodents.

FINDINGS: First, tirzepatide effectively attenuated the rewarding properties of alcohol, measured through locomotor stimulation, conditioned place preference, and accumbal dopamine release (P < 0.001). Subsequently, this GLP-1R/GIPR agonist dose-dependently reduced voluntary alcohol consumption (P < 0.001), prevented binge (P < 0.01) and relapse-like drinking (P < 0.001), and maintained efficacy during repeated administration (P < 0.001). Finally, tirzepatide induced sustained synaptic depression in the lateral septum (P < 0.05) and further altered histone regulatory proteins in this region (P < 0.05), suggesting a potential neural substrate for its effects. Moreover, the GLP-1R/GIPR agonist affected metabolic parameters including body weight (P < 0.001), adipose tissue mass (P < 0.01), hepatic triglycerides (P < 0.01) and circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines (P < 0.05).

INTERPRETATION: Together, our findings suggest tirzepatide modulates alcohol-related behaviours through reward-related mechanisms while also affecting physiological consequences associated with long-term alcohol use. Given tirzepatide's established clinical use and the consistency of effects observed here, these results support further investigation for treating AUD and associated complications.

FUNDING: The study is supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council (2023-2600, 2020-00559, 2020-01463, 2024-03054), LUA/ALF (723941 & 1005347) from the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Alcohol Research Council of the Swedish Alcohol Retailing Monopoly (FO2024-0048), National Institutes of Health (NIH) (P50 AA010761 & U01 AA014095), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development (BLR&D I01BX000813 & IK6BX006299), Herbert & Karin Jacobssons Foundation (2024-Forskning-225), Adlerbertska Research Foundation (2024-791), Wilhelm & Martina Lundgren's Research Foundation (2024-SA-4698), Åke Wibergs Foundation (M24-0216), Swedish Diabetes Foundation (DIA 2024-898) and Mary von Sydow Foundation (2024-36 & 2024-185). Thaynnam A Emous held an international internship scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), Process Number #2023/18470-5, while conducting research at the University of Gothenburg.