Could a genetically engineered VIRUS cure alcoholism? Researchers claim it could reduce desire to drink

  • Experts found alcohol changes the way your brain processes information
  • They also identified a way to ease changes and reduce the desire to drink
  • The team discovered a genetically engineered virus as the solution
  • Virus inhibits the 'go' neurons to reduce alcohol drinking levels 
By Yifeng Cheng and Jun Wang With The Conversation
Published: 20:38 GMT, 25 October 2016 | Updated: 08:56 GMT, 26 October 2016
About 17 million adults and more than 850,000 adolescents had some problems with alcohol in the United States in 2012. 
Long-term alcohol misuse could harm your liver, stomach, cardiovascular system and bones, as well as your brain.
Chronic heavy alcohol drinking can lead to a problem that we scientists call alcohol use disorder, which most people call alcohol abuse or alcoholism. 
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Long-term alcohol misuse could harm your liver, stomach, cardiovascular system and bones, as well as your brain. Chronic heavy alcohol drinking can lead to a problem that we scientists call alcohol use disorder, which most people call alcohol abuse or alcoholism
Long-term alcohol misuse could harm your liver, stomach, cardiovascular system and bones, as well as your brain. Chronic heavy alcohol drinking can lead to a problem that we scientists call alcohol use disorder, which most people call alcohol abuse or alcoholism

VIRUS FOR ALCOHOLISM  

Mice were infected with a genetically engineered virus that delivers a gene into the 'go' or 'no-go' neurons. 
That gene then drives the neurons to express a specific protein.
After the protein is expressed, researchers injected the mice with a chemical that recognizes and binds to it.
This binding can inhibit or promote activity in these neurons, letting us turn the green light off (by inhibiting 'go' neurons) or turn the red light (by exciting 'no-go' neurons) back on.
Then they measured how much alcohol the mice were consuming after being 'infected,' and compared it with what they were drinking before.
The team found that either inhibiting the 'go' neurons or turning on the 'no-go' neurons successfully reduced alcohol drinking levels and preference for alcohol in the 'alcoholic' mice.
Whatever name you use, it is a severe issue that affects millions of people and their families and causes economic burdens to our society.
Quitting alcohol, like quitting any drug, is hard to do. 
One reason may be that heavy drinking can actually change the brain.
Our research team at Texas A&M University Health Science Center has found that alcohol changes the way information is processed through specific types of neurons in the brain, encouraging the brain to crave more alcohol. 
Over time, the more you drink, the more striking the change.
In recent research we identified a way to mitigate these changes and reduce the desire to drink using a genetically engineered virus.
Alcohol use disorders include alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, and can be thought of as an addiction. 
Addiction is a chronic brain disease. It causes abnormalities in the connections between neurons.
Heavy alcohol use can cause changes in a region of the brain, called the striatum. 
This part of the brain processes all sensory information (what we see and what we hear, for instance), and sends out orders to control motivational or motor behavior.
The striatum, which is located in the forebrain, is a major target for addictive drugs and alcohol. 
Drug and alcohol intake can profoundly increase the level of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and motivation, in the striatum.
Our research team at Texas A&M University Health Science Center has found that alcohol changes in how brain neurons process information. The neurons in the striatum (pictured) have higher densities of dopamine receptors as compared to neurons in other parts of the brain
Our research team at Texas A&M University Health Science Center has found that alcohol changes in how brain neurons process information. The neurons in the striatum (pictured) have higher densities of dopamine receptors as compared to neurons in other parts of the brain
The neurons in the striatum have higher densities of dopamine receptors as compared to neurons in other parts of the brain. 
As a result, striatal neurons are more susceptible to changes in dopamine levels.
There are two main types of neurons in the striatum: D1 and D2. 
While both receive sensory information from other parts of the brain, they have nearly opposite functions.
D1-neurons control 'go' actions, which encourage behavior. 
D2-neurons, on the other hand, control 'no-go' actions, which inhibit behavior. 
In the study, the team gave mice with two bottles, one containing water and the other containing 20 percent alcohol by volume, mixed with drinking water. Then mice were infected with a genetically engineered virus that delivers a gene into the 'go' or 'no-go' neurons
In the study, the team gave mice with two bottles, one containing water and the other containing 20 percent alcohol by volume, mixed with drinking water. Then mice were infected with a genetically engineered virus that delivers a gene into the 'go' or 'no-go' neurons
Think of D1-neurons like a green traffic light and D2-neurons like a red traffic light.
Dopamine affects these neurons in different ways. 
It promotes D1-neuron activity, turning the green light on, and suppresses D2-neuron function, turning the red light off. 
As a result, dopamine promotes 'go' and inhibits 'no-go' actions on reward behavior.
Alcohol, especially excessive amounts, can hijack this reward system because it increases dopamine levels in the striatum. 
As a result, your green traffic light is constantly switched on, and the red traffic light doesn't light up to tell you to stop. 

WOMEN NOW DRINK NEARLY AS MUCH AS MEN 

Women are drinking nearly as much as men thanks to a booming ‘wine o’clock’ culture, experts say.
A major study spanning more than 100 years reveals that the gender gap in alcohol consumption has almost vanished.
Today’s young women are almost as likely to drink as men – and they binge and drink to dangerous levels nearly as often.
It found that young men born between 1991 and 2000 are 1.1 times more likely to drink at all than women of the same age. But men born between 1891 and 1910 were 2.2 times more likely to drink than women, the study found. 
Today’s young men, now aged between 16 and 25, are 1.2 times more likely than women to have what researchers class as ‘problematic alcohol use’, compared to a threefold gap a century ago.
And young men today are only 1.3 times more likely to suffer health problems than women – a gap that a century ago stood at 3.6-fold. Overall, drinking levels in Britain are going down among adult men and women. 
But the gender gap is closing, and a hard core of women, about a fifth of all female drinkers, drink to hazardous levels.
This is why heavy alcohol use pushes you to drink to excess more and more.
These brain changes last a very long time. 
But can they be mitigated? That's what we want to find out.
We started by presenting mice with two bottles, one containing water and the other containing 20 percent alcohol by volume, mixed with drinking water.