According to new research by a team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, a specific stress hormone is key to the development and maintenance of alcohol dependence. The researchers found that by blocking the stress hormone corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), they could also block the symptoms of addiction. This correlation suggests a promising concept for developing a drug to treat alcohol dependence.

The research, which occurred over the six-year period, will appear in an article in an upcoming print edition of the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Associate Professor Marisa Roberta, lead researcher, commented on the findings: "I'm excited about this study. It represents an important step in understanding how the brain changes when it moves from a normal to an alcohol-dependent state."

The study not only confirms the central role of CRF in alcohol dependence, but it also shows that CRF can be successfully blocked on a long-term basis (at least in rats) to alleviate the symptoms of alcohol dependence. This is the first study to do so.

Roberta further commented: "Research to understand alcoholism is important for society. Our study explored what we call in the field 'the dark side' of alcohol addiction. That's the compulsion to drink, not because it is pleasurable -- which has been the focus of much previous research -- but because it relieves the anxiety generated by abstinence and the stressful effects of withdrawal."

(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)

Labels: alcohol, brain_chemistry