Alcohol addiction ruins millions of lives every year, but scientists may have found a cure for this terrible affliction. A new treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) has been trialled in monkeys with impressive results and, if these translate to human trials, the impact could be monumental. A team of neuroscientists and physiologists from across the US tested a new type of gene therapy to see if they could directly target the underlying brain circuitry associated with sustained heavy drinking. As they noted, in the journal Nature Medicine, people suffering from AUD commonly return to alcohol use even if they attempt to quit. This is largely to do with what’s known as mesolimbic dopamine (DA) signalling – meaning how the central nervous system circuit communicates the feelgood neurotransmitter dopamine. A protein called glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is key to keeping these neurons in this reward circuitry functioning. However, experts have found that levels of GDNF are reduced in people with AUD during periods of alcohol abstinence, most notably in a region of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), as IFLScience notes. Therefore, the researchers decided to test whether using gene therapy to deliver more GDNF to the VTA could help reinforce this crucial dopaminergic signalling and prevent patients from suffering an alcoholic relapse. The team of scientists explained how alcohol consumption in non-addicts prompts the release of dopamine, creating a pleasurable buzz feeling, but chronic alcohol use causes the brain to adapt and stop releasing so much dopamine. “So when people are addicted to alcohol, they don’t really feel more pleasure in drinking,” Dr Kathleen Grant, a senior co-author of the study, said in a statement. “It seems that they’re drinking more because they feel a need to maintain an intoxicated state.” For their research, Dr Grant and her colleagues used eight rhesus macaque monkeys, who were exposed to increasing concentrations of alcohol over four 30-day “induction” periods. The monkeys then had free access to alcohol and water for 21 hours a day for six months, during which they developed heavy drinking behaviours. This was then followed by a 12-week abstinence phase, with the GDNF treatment performed four weeks in for half of the subjects. The gene therapy was delivered using a a viral vector containing a copy of the human GDNF gene injected directly into the primate’s VTA, according to IFLScience. And the results were truly jaw-dropping. “Drinking went down to almost zero,” Dr Grant said. “For months on end, these animals would choose to drink water and just avoid drinking alcohol altogether. They decreased their drinking to the point that it was so low we didn’t record a blood-alcohol level.” The most exciting aspect of their findings is the suggestion that gene therapy could offer a permanent solution for people with the most severe cases of AUD. This will be a welcome glimmer of hope to many, given that some 29.5 million people were diagnosed with AUD in the US alone in 2021, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Of these 29.5 million sufferers, almost a million (894,000) were aged between 12 and 17. It’ll likely be some time before we know for sure whether the gene therapy can be rolled out in humans, but it’s an important first step in tackling this devastating disorder. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Pope Francis is heading to Portugal to open the first post-pandemic edition of World Youth Day

A Utah mother of three on trial for allegedly murdering her husband in 2022 with a poisoned cocktail said she had normal explanations for taking so-called “exotic vacations” after the death, according to court documents. A month before she was arrested, Kouri Richins emailed officials in Summit County to explain a series of trips to Salt Lake City, Spain and Mexico, according to the documents obtained by the New York Post. “You asked about any exotic vacations I have taken since Eric’s passing. I went on two trips last year. One, my kids tried out at a soccer camp in SLC [Salt Lake City] to qualify to play in Spain in June and both my kids made it. So yes, I took them to Spain in October 2022. I have attached their invitation letters,” read one message. “I took my kids and my mom came with us in August of 2022 to Mexico. As I hope you understand, the months prior to this since Eric’s death have been hard to deal with,” she said elsewhere. “Eric and I went to Mexico every year, sometimes twice. We traveled A LOT. We have taken the boys to Mexico a few times,” she continued. Ms Richins was arrested on 8 May and charged with first-degree murder and possession of a controlled substance, with prosecutors alleging she killed her husband by spiking a Moscow mule cocktail with a lethal dose of fentanyl. The Utah woman wrote a children’s book about dealing with grief and went on local television to promote its release weeks before she got arrested. “It was right up until the end that she was carrying on as though nothing had happened, and that she was a victim, and she was a martyr and promoting her book,” lawyer and Richins family spokesman Greg Skordas told The Independent. Her defence has argued in court that she is not guilty and there is “no substantial evidence to support the charges,” Fox 13 reported. Ms Richins was denied bond by a Utah court as her trial progresses. Eric Richins was remembered as a dedicated father, local businessman and coach of youth sports. “He spent countless hours coaching and teaching the boys to ‘play aggressive’ and ‘give it their all!’” according to an obituary. “Eric truly cared about every single child he coached and wanted the absolute best for all of them.” Both members of the marriage have suggested, directly or through their representatives, that the other was having an affair. In the months before Richins’s death, the couple appeared to be manoeuvring for control of the family finances, with Eric changing his will and life insurance policies, while Kouri allegedly attempted to alter Eric’s life insurance partner and benefits related to his stone masonry business. Read More Author charged with husband’s poisoning murder sobs in court as she’s denied bail How Kouri Richins turned from grieving widow to accused killer by poison: ‘It wasn’t necessarily unexpected’ Utah mother charged with poisoning husband was more than $2m in debt, new documents reveal

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