Highlight alcoholism
Scientists saved rats from alcoholism with a laser
Sergey Vasiliev, Naked Science
Addiction to alcohol is one of the most common, severe and destructive forms of addiction. Patients do not always manage to get rid of it on their own, and doctors do not yet know a certain "button" in the body, by pressing which they could "turn off" the craving for booze at once. However, the team of Olivier George, a professor at the Scripps Research Institute, managed to do something similar on rodents. They write about this in an article published in the journal Nature Communications (de Guglielmo et al., Inactivation of a CRF-dependent amygdalofugal pathway reverses addiction-like behaviors in alcohol-dependent rats).
A description of the work can be read in the press release of Scripps Research Institute Scientists hunt down the brain circuit responsible for alcohol cravings - VM.
Earlier laboratory experiments have already shown that the cells of the central nucleus of the amygdala of the brain, a key regulator of emotions and memory, play an important role in alcohol dependence. In addition, alcohol abuse changes the levels of certain hormones in the amygdala – for example, a heavy drinker accumulates corticoliberin here during abstinence. By blocking the receptors sensitive to it, it is possible to noticeably weaken the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal in animals.
The reasons and details of this are poorly understood. Nevertheless, Professor George and his colleagues decided to test the effects of point exposure on corticoliberin-sensitive amygdala neurons. To do this, optogenetics methods that have already become almost classical were used: laboratory animals were subjected to genetic manipulation, so that their target cells began to respond to laser radiation of a certain wavelength.
Model animals that demonstrated severe forms of alcohol dependence were subjected to such a procedure with complete shutdown of corticoliberin-receptor neurons of the amygdala. And indeed, the symptoms of alcoholism disappeared from them, and the craving for alcohol disappeared, although they immediately returned again as soon as the laser effect on the cells stopped.
All this, of course, is not intended for the treatment of sick people. The work of George's team demonstrates some new aspects of alcohol addiction and ways to combat it. It is unacceptable to carry out such manipulations with people, and it is simply impossible. "However, the work can stimulate the creation of a small molecule that acts precisely on this population of neurons," the scientist adds. – Having carried out the necessary screening of substances, we hope to get the medicine in 10-15 years, much faster than usual.
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