Drinking alcohol with friends or colleagues is usually associated with good feelings and an uplifting mood, while drinking alone is associated with loneliness, depression and sometimes alcoholism. Drinking alcohol has been shown to release dopamine in the brain, which causes a feeling of euphoria. Indeed, seeking this alcohol-related dopamine rush can lead to problems with alcohol use.
In a new study, researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) examined the biological process involved in drinking alcohol in social settings, including the role of dopamine and how it evokes these positive feelings.
“The social environment affects how people respond to alcohol, but there is no research on how or why this happens,” said Dr. Kyung-An Han, a UTEP biologist and one of the study’s authors.
In order to study the behavioral effects of alcohol consumption in a social environment, the researchers used fruit flies (Drosophila). This may seem like an odd choice, but it’s not: we have about 75%. the same genes that cause human disease.
Flies were exposed to ethanol vapor individually or in groups, and their average speed was measured to determine the degree of ethanol-induced response. The researchers observed that flies that “drank alcohol” alone had a slight increase in movement, while those that “drank alcohol” in a group had a significant increase in speed and movement.
They then examined the dopamine levels of the drugged flies and compared the data to the control group. Regardless of whether their dopamine levels were normal or elevated, the intoxicated flies still showed only a small increase in activity when alone. This was not the case when they were in a group, with intoxicated flies with increased dopamine showing even greater hyperactivity.
“We have shown that both the social environment and dopamine work together to increase the response of flies to ethanol,” Han said.
Finally, scientists set out to find out which of the five dopamine receptors in the brain contributes most to this process. They found that it was the D1 dopamine receptor, which is known to play an important role in areas such as learning, memory and reward mechanisms.
“The human D1 receptor gene is associated with alcohol use disorders, and this study experimentally confirms this,” Han explained. “This gives UTEP and other countries scientists a basis for further research.”
Based on 2019 According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), around 400 million people worldwide live with an alcohol use disorder. 7 percent of people aged 15 and older. of the world’s population.
The researchers hope that their findings will be useful for improving the treatment of alcohol use disorders, writes New Atlas.
The study is published žurnale „Addiction Biology“.
2024-08-17 15:17:47