In a new study, researchers have found that deactivating a brain area known for motivation and emotion-related behaviors decreases binge drinking.
The study pinpoints a system in a specific brain region that can be changed to reduce harmful binge drinking.
The research was conducted by a team at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Binge drinking is one of the most common patterns in which alcohol is consumed.
It’s risky behavior, and one consequence of repeated binge drinking is increasing the risk for developing an alcohol use disorder.
Further, those who consistently binge drink, particularly during adolescent and college years, have almost 10 times the risk of developing an alcohol use disorder.
But how much alcohol must be consumed to qualify a drinking session as a binge?
A binge, as defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, or NIAAA, means drinking to the legal limit of intoxication within two hours. Becker put this into perspective.
This is four standard drinks for a woman or five drinks for a male—consumed over about a two-hour period.
A drink is defined as roughly one 12-ounce can of beer, a five-ounce glass of wine, or a standard 1.5 ounce shot of distilled spirits. The serving sizes can vary based on the percentage of pure alcohol in the drink.
In the study, the team tested a potential strategy for reducing risky binge drinking.
The system that Becker’s team investigated—the opioid receptor system—is well-recognized in the addiction field.
Notorious narcotic drugs of abuse, such as morphine, heroin, and oxycontin/oxycodone act on the opioid-receptor system, producing the pleasurable effects that make these drugs so addictive.
However, there is an odd opioid receptor out, so to speak, that is not involved in signaling pleasure.
Instead of feelings of pleasure, the kappa opioid receptor produces stress and discontent.
When people drink and experience positive effects, that is partially due to pleasurable opioid receptors being activated.
However, after they have finished drinking and nausea, headache, and the stress of withdrawal start to set in, the kappa opioid receptor system has been activated.
The team found that turning off the kappa opioid receptors in the brain decreased binge drinking.
This finding suggests that the kappa opioid receptor system is important not only in the negative state of withdrawal but also in driving binge drinking itself.
At first glance, this finding might sound counterintuitive. How does turning off the negative effects of the kappa opioid receptor decrease drinking?
The team says that kappa opioid receptors play an important role in the negative emotional state that drives drinking when it becomes compulsive in alcohol use disorders.
They hypothesize that the kappa opioid receptor system may drive binge and compulsive alcohol use in a similar way, in addition to contributing to stress and unease during withdrawal.
To begin testing their hypothesis, the team used a binge-drinking mouse model, which allowed the mice to drink freely for four hours each night.
After blocking the kappa opioid receptors in these mice, the team tested how much alcohol the animals voluntarily consumed.
What they found could have important implications for future treatments of chronic binge drinking.
This finding supports Becker and Haun’s hypothesis that the kappa opioid receptor system in the extended amygdala promotes binge drinking.
Blocking kappa opioid receptors in the extended amygdala, therefore, could act as a therapy to taper binge drinking.
According to the team, if such therapy were developed, it would be best tailored for those who have difficulty controlling more chronic heavy drinking, such as those with an alcohol use disorder.
One author of the study is Howard C. Becker, Ph.D., director of the Charleston Alcohol Research Center.
The study is published in Neuropharmacology.
Copyright © 2020 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
