A Drug That Cuts Off Alcoholism and Relapse

A research team from Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute has found a brain compound that can cut off alcohol abuse, with hope for those that intend to escape alcoholism.

The brain's hypocretin system - a group of cells from the hypothalamus area - not only stops the desire, but impedes relapse once people have recovered from alcohol addiction. The system releases a highly excitatory neuropeptide hormone called orexin, linked to the euphoric sensation felt after drinking alcohol or consuming any addictive drug. "Orexin reinforces the euphoria felt when drinking alcohol, so if a drug can be developed to block the orexin system in humans, we should be able to stop an alcoholic's craving for alcohol," said lead researcher, Dr Andrew Lawrence.

The team first made a compound that deactivated orexin's 'euphoric' effects and treated with it rats already turned into alcoholics, with remarkable results. "In one experiment, rats that had alcohol freely available to them stopped drinking it after receiving the Orexin blocker" said Lawrence.

Rats that passed this treatment with the blocking drug, did not relapse to their addiction when kept in an environment "in which they had been conditioned to associate with alcohol use".

Orexin is also linked to feeding regulation, so it can also help treating metabolic disorders, like chronic over-eating which leads to obesity. The researchers still have to determine if the drug acts in the human brain and which are the effects of its long-term use.

Alcohol addiction (alcoholism) is a chronic and often progressive disease that provokes alcohol craving and continued drinking despite repeated alcohol-related problems, such as job loss, breaking the law, pain and suffering of the individuals involved and their families.

Alcohol attacks most systems of the human body, but most remarkable health issues include heart disease, cancer, prancreatitis and liver disease. Not to mention the high toll of human lives that alcohol takes yearly from traffic accidents.