
For folks who have battled alcohol dependency for years, any treatment that could curb or block alcohol cravings would be a huge advance. Now, research in mice is giving a glimmer of hope that just such a therapy might be possible. A compound — so far dubbed LY2444296 — appears to block a key brain cell receptor called the kappa opioid receptor (KOP), a team at the Scripps Research Institute in California reports. “Compounds designed to selectively block the KOP are very promising because this receptor is involved in a lot of mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression,” said senior study author Rémi Martin-Fardon, an associate professor of molecular medicine at Scripps. “The KOP system is also important in alcohol use disorder, so the idea is if it’s targeted and blocked, you can stop alcohol abuse,” he explained in a Scripps news release. However, this research has so far only been conducted in mice. Experts are quick to point out that many findings seen in animals are not replicated in humans, and further study is needed. The new study was published recently in the journal Scientific Reports. Martin-Fardon’s team knew that the brain’s “KOP system” helps direct a range of brain responses including addiction, emotion, pain and reward-seeking. Alcohol intake can negatively affect KOP, as well. In the study, the Scripps team tested the… read on > read on >