Tag: alcohol use disorder

Scientists examined whether oxytocin, also known as the love hormone, could be a viable treatment for alcohol use disorder.

When administered nasally, a spray of oxytocin led alcohol-dependent rats to drink less, a new study has found. 

Lead study author Brendan Tunstall, a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), tells Inverse that his belief is that eventually, oxytocin could be a form of treatment for alcohol use disorder. 

“Preliminary studies in humans have already indicated that oxytocin may have beneficial effects in reducing physical signs of alcohol withdrawal and decreasing alcohol craving,” he tells Inverse.

“However, larger studies are needed to determine the potential therapeutic usefulness of intranasal oxytocin administration for alcohol use disorder.”

Oxytocin, commonly referred to as the “love hormone,” is a neuropeptide, meaning it signals the brain during “tender situations.”

To determine whether oxytocin works for treating alcohol use disorder, Tunstall and his team took a group of alcohol-dependent rats and a non-dependent control group and gave them both a dose nasally. 

Afterwards, when they were exposed to alcoholic drinks, the alcohol-dependent rats did not choose to drink them. They did, however, still drink sugar water. The control group did not show any differences. Tunstall says this shows that the oxytocin affected the rats’ desire for alcohol specifically.  

The reasoning behind this, Tunstall says, has to do with gamma amminobutyric acid (GABA) signaling in the brain. In the past, it has been proven that GABA signaling increases for those with short and long-term alcohol use. Tunstall and his team wanted to determine whether oxytocin would help GABA signal levels return to normal. 

“Together, these results provide converging evidence that oxytocin specifically and selectively blocks the enhanced motivation for alcohol drinking that develops in alcohol dependence likely via a central mechanism that may result from altered oxytocin effects on CeA GABA transmission in alcohol dependence,” the study authors wrote. “Neuroadaptations in endogenous oxytocin signaling may provide a mechanism to further our understanding of alcohol use disorder.”

In previous experiments with rats, Tunstall and his team determined that alcohol led to “hyperactive GABA signaling,” which was no surprise. But they also found that oxytocin seemed to lessen the effects of GABA signals when it came to the rats, which they think could be responsible for the changes they have observed in the alcohol-dependent rats.  

Even though the results of this recent study indicate that oxytocin could be helpful in treating alcohol use disorder, Tunstall says the study only examines the neuropeptide’s effect on one neuron category in the brain. This could be problematic if alcohol use disorder is rooted in another area of the brain entirely, he says. 

View the original article at thefix.com

A new study found that women were significantly more likely than men to believe their alcohol abuse would resolve on its own.

A recent study found that drinking affects women’s bodies differently than men—and now a new study shows that women approach getting help for drinking differently as well.

Iowa Now reported that a new study from the University of Iowa reveals blatant gender differences, and confirmed the need for gender-disparate studies on health issues. Women were significantly more likely than men to believe their alcohol abuse would resolve on its own, with 47% of women responding affirmatively versus 23% of men.

Paul Gilbert, assistant professor of community and behavioral health in the UI College of Public Health and the study’s lead author, told Iowa Now that his study was the first survey-data analysis to examine differences in why adult men and women do not seek help.

“Men and women think differently about how they overcome alcoholism,” Gilbert said. “Women are more independent-minded and self-reliant, thinking it can be done independently. Men are more pessimistic based on failed past experiences, or they don’t know where to go to get help.”

Gilbert’s worked with George Pro and Grant Brown of the UI College of Public Health, and Sarah Zemore and Nina Mulia of the Public Health Institute in Oakland, California, to compile the research for the study, which was published in the April 2019 edition of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

The study analyzed random survey data from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The survey asked general health questions and was conducted both in 2000-2001 and 2004-2005. Professor Gilbert’s study focused on 2,600 respondents who met criteria for both alcohol abuse and participated in both surveys.

Both men and women cited embarrassment as their primary reason for not seeking treatment, but men were significantly more likely than women to report having failed in previous attempts to get help.

Research has already shown that alcohol abuse manifests itself differently in female and male bodies. Women generally have less water in their bodies pound for pound than men—and alcohol resides primarily in body water, according to the Women’s Health Research Institute at Northwestern University. In addition, even one drink a day puts women at a higher risk for breast cancer.

Professor Gilbert told Iowa Now that women might seek help more often if women-based programs for drinking problems were developed specifically for them.

View the original article at thefix.com