Health and Welbeing
Swedish scientist are developing Brain Medication aimed at stopping alcoholism
Friday, 27 July 2012
Swedish scientists are developing what could be called a ground
breaking approach in medicine which will see a model whereby the urge
sensation for alcohol consumption will be removed from the brain.
After finding that alcohol dependence has to do with the level of
dopamine in the brain required to give a pleasure sensation, a new
medication for alcohol dependence is under development in Sweden
directed against dopamine in the brain and could give better clues as
to how to reduce the growing level of alcohol abuse.
There are currently some approximately 300 000 Swedes who have an
alcohol addiction, The fact the no amount of counselling is helping, a
more medically directed scientific approach has to be conceived.
In that vein, scientists today see alcoholism as a disease of the brain
because of how alcohol alters the brain's reward system. They believe
that regular drinking of alcohol alters the brain system - something
that has been difficult to re-adjust with counselling.
It happens that if one drinks every now and then, it increases the
amount of dopamine in the brain every time that there is the urge for a
drink. A regular properly managed drinking is all right but when the
drinking habit becomes something that clouds the brain, it changes the
way the brain works.
The reward system becomes blunted and the amounts of dopamine released
in the brain are reduced below normal levels. The result is that the
dependent would have to drink to restore the level and avoid feeling
bad.
Nobel laureate, Arvid Carlsson, has now developed a substance that
allows the dopamine in the brain to remain stabilized at a normal
level. An initial study carried out at University of Gothenburg shows
that the compound works on patients suffering from other diseases in
which dopamine level is important.
Researchers at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden will this fall begin to try the new substance in alcohol-dependent individuals.
"The substance is unique as it can both raise and lower dopamine
levels, depending on the disorder determined in the brain," says Pia
Steensland, associate professor and alcohol researcher at the
Karolinska Institute to Swedish television
For alcohol-dependent people, it is done so that the depressed dopamine
levels are raised. When alcohol is consumed, the substance may reduce
the pleasurable sensation of alcohol. In this way, it becomes
meaningless to drink and an alcoholic could be free from its alcoholic
bondage.
by Scancomark.se Team
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