Drunken fruit flies could help to cure alcoholism |
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Drunken fruit flies could be the key to helping combat alcoholism in humans.
Researchers
from North Carolina State and Boston University have studied how long
it took fruit flies to react to alcohol – specifically the time before
they lost ‘postural control’. At the same time, changes in the flies’
genes were also recorded to see if specific genes interacted as the
alcohol levels increased. The scientists not only found that genetic
‘expressions’ did take place but were also able to pinpoint which genes
were affected.
They next extended the study to discover
whether the same genetic expression also occurs in humans when they are
drinking. The results, which have been published in the October issue
of the journal Genetics, have confirmed that the same genes are affected.
The
team now hopes to use its discovery to explore why humans have varying
alcohol tolerance levels, and to work towards creating drugs that could
prevent or eliminate alcohol dependency.
"From a scientific point-of-view, research like this is almost intoxicating," said Mark Johnston, editor-in-chief of Genetics.
"We've known for a while now that genetics played a role in alcohol
consumption, but now, we actually know some of the genes that are
involved. As a result of this work, we have a potential drug target for
curing this insidious condition." |
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