"Scientists Pinpoint Brain Region That May Be Center Of Alcohol Addiction" - Bret Stetka
New research published in Science may offer insights into why some humans who drink alcohol develop an addiction whereas most do not. After caffeine, alcohol is the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in the world. The new research confirms earlier work showing this is true for rats; but it takes things a step further and supports a study design that could help scientists better understand addiction biology, and possibly develop more effective therapies for human addictive behaviors. “In order to develop novel therapeutics for alcoholism it is critical to understand not just the actions of alcohol in the brain, but how those actions may differ between individuals who are vulnerable or resilient to the addictive properties of the drug,” said Paul Kenny, PhD, professor and chair of neuroscience and director of the Drug Discovery Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This Herculean effort to impressively map out a cellular mechanism that likely contributes to alcohol dependence susceptibility will likely provide important new leads in the search for more effective therapeutics.” Dr. Kenny was not involved in the new research.
- Paul J. Kenny, PhD, Professor, Chair, Neuroscience, Director, Drug Discovery Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai