University of Maryland researchers say they have identified two genes associated with binge drinking that may lead to better treatments for excessive alcohol consumers.
Rodents bred and trained to drink excessively had a profound reductions in binge drinking after scientists manipulated two receptors in the brain – GABA receptors and toll-like receptor 4(TLR4). The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Close to a third of Americans who drink are excessive drinkers, and about 75,000 die from the effects a year. In treatment, the drugs that aim to ease withdrawal symptoms may lead to addiction themselves.
But those receptors may mean there's a way to reduce anxiety and control cravings without addiction, according to the lead investigator Harry June, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology and experimental therapeutics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
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