A new target for the treatment of alcoholism
Alcoholics lack an important enzyme in the brain
Swedish psychiatrists have discovered a new target to which the treatment of alcoholism should be directed, reports Infox.
As a result of many years of research, the authors found the enzyme PRDM2 in the frontal lobe of the brain, which, as they found out, does not allow excessive alcohol consumption. And if this enzyme is absent, then alcohol dependence is formed.
Currently, there is the following model of alcoholism formation: ethanol, which is contained in alcoholic beverages, causes the release of endorphins (endogenous opiates), which, acting on certain brain receptors, cause activation of the reward system in the brain and a feeling of euphoria. It turns out that a person has drunk – he feels good. I repeated it several times. And so a conditioned reflex interneuronal connection is established, which determines the development of addiction (especially in genetically predisposed people).
Therefore, in order to get rid of alcohol addiction, it is necessary not to allow this interneuronal connection to form. As it turned out, this can be achieved with the help of the enzyme PRDM2.
"The enzyme PRDM2 controls the work of several genes, which in turn are responsible for the transmission of signals between nerve cells. If this enzyme is too small or it is absent, then the signal that should have stopped the craving for alcohol is simply not formed," says lead author of the study, Professor Markus Heilig from the University of Lencoping (in a press release, People with alcohol dependence lack important enzyme – VM).
An experiment on rats in which the PRDM2 enzyme was absent showed that these animals developed an irresistible craving for alcohol (ethanol with water), even when the consequences were not the most pleasant for them. Interestingly, when animals were stressed, they automatically formed the habit of consoling themselves with alcohol.
"We have seen that only one enzyme can be responsible for the formation of alcohol dependence. Now that it is clear what mechanism underlies this process, we can influence it. In the future, we plan to develop drugs that could affect this enzyme without allowing its synthesis to be blocked," adds Professor Heilig.
The authors report on the results of their research in the latest issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry (Barbier et al., Dependence-induced increase of alcohol self-administration and compulsive drinking mediated by the histone methyltransferase PRDM2).
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31.08.2016