Washington, United States

A study published in the journal, Nature Medicine, shows how a form of gene therapy, which is already in the midst of being tested in patients with Parkinson’s disease, may also help provide a one-off treatment for severe alcohol addiction. 

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What is the study about?

The study was conducted on macaque monkeys who were predisposed to heavy drinking and like humans, some are more prone to heavy drinking than others. 

Researchers noted how when the macaques were first offered a drink of their choice with five per cent alcohol alongside regular food and water, eventually, some of them almost always chose alcohol.

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This is because, like most addictive substances, alcohol triggers the release of dopamine, a type of neurotransmitter that gives a person feelings of pleasure and reward, which motivates them to repeat a specific behaviour. 

However, with chronic drinking, the release of dopamine decreases over time, therefore people who are addicted to alcohol eventually don’t tend to feel pleasure in drinking it. 

“It seems that they’re drinking more because they feel a need to maintain an intoxicated state,” said Professor Kathleen Grant, who co-led the study, at Oregon Health and Science University’s National Primate Research Centre in Beaverton, United States. 

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She added, “For months on end, these animals would choose to drink water and just avoid drinking alcohol altogether.” Grant and her team wanted to know if resetting these dopamine reward pathways might lower their desire to drink alcohol. 

In order to do this, researchers introduced a harmless virus in four alcohol-addicted macaques to deliver the gene for a protein called glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). They used magnetic resonance imaging to guide the injection to the area of the brain that is responsible for addiction and reward.

“We targeted the cell bodies that produce dopamine with this gene to increase dopamine synthesis, thereby replenishing or restoring what chronic drinking has taken away,” said Grant, as quoted by The Guardian. 

Alcohol consumption reduced by 90%

The study found that the macaques permanently started overexpressing dopamine which led to a dramatic decrease in their subsequent alcohol consumption by up to 90 per cent. “Drinking went down to almost zero,” said Grant. 

The study also noted that the macaques that were injected with an inactive form of the gene continued drinking, while the ones that received GNDF, had their dopamine restored. According to Grant, the animals went from eight to 10 drinks a day to one to two drinks a day. 

However, considering that gene therapy procedure involves brain surgery and is irreversible it would probably be used in the most severe cases of alcohol addiction, said co-lead of the study. But it might not be available for people just yet, as animal studies are needed before the technique could be tested on humans. 

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