TUESDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- A new treatment that
reduces excessive drinking and prevents drinking relapse proved
successful in tests on rats, a new study finds.
The treatment involves increasing levels of a brain protein
called glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) -- also being
looked at as a treatment for Parkinson's disease. The researchers
also pinpointed the site in the brain where GDNF acts to control
drinking.
In addition, the treatment didn't block other normal
pleasure-seeking behaviors (such as craving sweets), a common
problem with drugs developed to treat alcoholism.
In this study, rats were conditioned for two months to seek
alcohol. The researchers then injected GDNF into a brain region
called the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA), which is believed to be
strongly involved in drug-seeking behavior. The rats' desire to
drink alcohol decreased significantly within as little as 10
minutes, and the effect lasted at least three hours.
But the rats still wanted to drink sugar water after the
injections of GDNF, which shows that increased levels of GDNF
didn't decrease this pleasure-seeking behavior.
In another part of the study, the researchers trained rats to
desire alcohol and then took it away from them. When alcohol was
reintroduced, the rats started drinking the same amount as before.
But when they were treated with GDNF, they lost their taste for
alcohol.
The study was published in this week's issue of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Alcoholism is a devastating and costly psychiatric disease with
enormous socioeconomic impact. There is tremendous need for
therapies to treat alcohol abuse," study senior author Dorit Ron,
principal investigator at the University of California, San
Francisco-affiliated Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, said
in a prepared statement.
"Unfortunately, only three drugs are currently approved to treat
excessive drinking, and all have serious limitations. Our findings
open the door to a promising new strategy to combat alcohol abuse,
addiction and especially relapse," Ron said.
More information
The American Psychological Association has more about
alcohol use disorders and their treatment.
