Oxytocin, a brain peptide that is widely known for its role in love and
bonding, may hold potential for helping individuals overcome alcohol addiction.
In a collaborative study with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),
scientists at Scripps Research discovered that oxytocin blocked enhanced
drinking in alcohol-dependent rats, concluding that targeting the oxytocin
system may be a successful pharmaceutical approach for treating alcohol-use
disorder.
The study appears in the April 16 issue of PLOS Biology.
“Because
oxytocin is already produced in your brain, is generally well-tolerated as a
treatment, and is approved by the FDA for use in humans, it has lot of
potential for alcohol addiction,” says Dean Kirson, PhD, co-lead author of the
study and a researcher in the laboratory of Marisa Roberto, PhD, a professor of
neuroscience at Scripps Research. “We are cautiously optimistic that this
research may lead to the development of new treatments for alcohol addiction
that could help millions of people worldwide.”
Alcohol-use
disorder is a chronic relapsing brain disease characterized by an impaired
ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational or
health consequences. With such enormous impacts on families and society, a
great need exists for new solutions to combat the disease.
In the new
study, the Scripps Research-NIDA team tested the hypothesis that oxytocin
administration could normalize the maladaptive brain changes that occur in
alcohol dependence, thereby reducing alcohol drinking in an established rat
model of alcohol dependence. The authors investigated oxytocin’s effects on
dependence-induced alcohol consumption and the altered chemical signaling in
the central nucleus of the amygdala, a key brain region associated with stress
and addiction.
The experiments
demonstrated that when oxytocin is administered systemically, intranasally or
into the brain, it blocks excess drinking that develops in alcohol-dependent
rats, but not in normal, nondependent rats. Moreover, oxytocin blocked
signaling by the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).
Taken together, the results provide evidence that oxytocin likely blocks
enhanced drinking by altering GABA transmission in the amygdala, and that
aberrations in the oxytocin system may underlie alcohol use disorder. Targeting
this system, possibly by administering oxytocin via a nasal spray, may be a
promising therapeutic approach for people with alcohol-use disorder, the team
found.
The Roberto
laboratory collaborated on the study with Brendan Tunstall, PhD, Leandro
Vendruscolo, PhD, and George Koob, PhD, all of whom are experts in the field of
addiction at NIDA, one of the centers of the National Institutes of Health.
Koob also is co-founder of Scripps Research’s Pearson Center for Alcoholism and
Addiction Research, which is focused on discovering novel treatments for
substance abuse disorders.
The Roberto and
Koob laboratories have had longstanding collaborations on a variety of topics
related to addiction. They came together on this research because each had been
independently investigating the role of oxytocin and addiction, but in
different ways. The Scripps Research scientists focused on synaptic effects of
oxytocin and alcohol in the brain, whereas NIDA collaborators were studying the
behavioral effects of oxytocin in decreasing dependence-induced drinking. Both
laboratories had garnered exciting data and decided to work together to
investigate mechanism of action.
“Oxytocin has
been reported to decrease consumption, withdrawal and drug-seeking behavior
associated with several drugs of abuse, including alcohol, and now we are a
step closer to fully understanding why,” Roberto says. “Alcohol-use disorder is
a global public health issue that demands new treatment approaches. Looking
ahead, we plan to continue to explore oxytocin’s role in addiction with the
hope that we can illuminate new and better options to address the disease.”
Source: https://myfusimotors.com/2020/02/29/study-suggests-oxytocin-could-help-treat-alcohol-addiction/
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