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New treatment reduces drinking by 50% in alcoholic monkeys

 1 hour ago

Slide 1 of 17: Scientists from the University of Iowa and the University of Copenhagen have made a breakthrough in possibly combating alcohol-use disorder in people. Photo by Ivan Sabayuki on Unsplash

Slide 2 of 17: This is a key moment in the fight against alcoholism, as therapeutic treatment was given to vervet monkeys with a very clear result. The animals, who have shown similarities to humans - including a preference for alcohol - have shown a huge decrease in boozing after treatment.

Slide 3 of 17: Twenty male vervet monkeys were part of the research. These monkeys are so keen on alcoholic beverages that they have been known to steal alcoholic beverages from people in bars.

Slide 4 of 17: The monkeys were given access to alcoholic drinks for four hours a day for four days to establish their drinking behaviour.

Slide 6 of 17: The treatment focuses on an analogue to a hormone provided by the liver called fibroblast factor 21 (FGF21). This has allowed the scientists to successfully therapeutically target the neural pathways which dictate alcohol regulation.

Slide 7 of 17: Dr Kyle Flippo, of the University of Iowa, said: "Our results provide a mechanism for a liver-to-brain endocrine feedback loop that presumably functions to protect the liver from damage.” Photo by Lee Chinyama on Unsplash

Slide 8 of 17: The findings have been incredibly successful, with the group given the treatment drinking 50% less than they did when they first established their baseline drinking behaviour. As stated in the reports, this indicates it can "robustly suppress alcohol consumption”.

Slide 10 of 17: “The heavy drinkers will consume alcohol to intoxication if possible, thereby offering a preclinical model of alcohol drinking that may more closely reflect aspects of harmful drinking in humans," the researchers stated, according to Sky News.

Slide 11 of 17: “Mammals began consuming alcohol from fermented fruit long before humans developed methods to produce alcohol from distillation," report the researchers in the journal Cell Metabolism as stated by Sky News. Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Slide 12 of 17: "Given that excessive alcohol consumption negatively impacts health and survival, it is not surprising that numerous physiological systems have evolved to sense and regulate alcohol consumption in mammals.”

Slide 13 of 17: NSDUH data estimates that 5.8% of American adults over 18 (about 14.4 million people) have an alcohol use disorder. This includes 9.2 million men and 5.3 million women, or 7.6% of all adult men and 4.1% of all adult women.

Slide 14 of 17: According to Drugabusestatistics.org, every day 261 Americans die as a result of excessive alcohol use. Photo by George Bakos on Unsplash

Slide 15 of 17: Drug Abuse Statistics also stated that up to 3.3 million people die every year as a result of alcohol abuse. Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash

Slide 16 of 17: There has been a recent rise in the alcohol-specific death rate in the UK in 2020. Could this be due to the effects of the pandemic? According to alcoholchange.org, 2020 recorded 14 deaths per 100,000 people, an 18.6% increase compared with 2019 - and the highest increase since the records began. Photo by Luke Jones on Unsplash

Slide 17 of 17: There is a dire need to combat drinking abuse and these discoveries made by the Universities of Iowa and Copenhagen will pave the way for future research. Dr Flippo stated, according to Sky News, “…the present data indicates that FGF21 analogues may provide a potential treatment option against alcohol-use disorder and related diagnosis.” A big step in the right direction.

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