Researcher finds mechanism affecting alcohol consumption
"It takes them from drinking the equivalent of three to four units of alcohol in one to two hours, down to one to two," said David Rossi, a WSU assistant professor of neuroscience. Writing in the latest Journal of Neuroscience , Rossi and colleagues at the Oregon Health and Science University and the U.S. Veterans Administration Portland Health Care System said the mechanism offers a new target for drug therapies that can curb excessive drinking. It may be particularly effective among problem drinkers, half of whom are believed to have a genetically determined tendency to abuse alcohol. The mechanism is found in the cerebellum, a part of the brain at the back of vertebrate skulls, in small neurons called granule cells. Sitting on the cells are proteins called GABAA receptors (pronounced "GABA A") that act like traffic cops for electrical signals in the nervous system. When activated, the GABAA receptor suppresses the firing of neurons, or brain circuits....