Alcohol is one of the most abused (and most dangerous) drugs in the world, and addiction to alcohol as a drug is one of the most common in the United States. Many studies have shown that 53% of all adults have one or more relatives who is addicted to alcohol, and 17.6 million people abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent. But researchers say they might have a new cure: optogenetics or light therapy.
Scientists from the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have been using optogenetics in their neuroscience research and have found something amazing. From the study:
There is compelling evidence that acute ethanol exposure stimulates ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine cell activity and that VTA-dependent dopamine release in terminal fields within the nucleus accumbens plays an integral role in the regulation of ethanol drinking behaviors.
In other words, using light to control the brain’s behavior and activity. The mouse the researchers used in the study had specific brain neurons controlled and found that, with optogenetics, it’s actions and impulses could be altered.
Study leader and assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at Wake Forest Evgeny A. Budygin used the light tool to gain control over a particular set of dopamine controllers and cell populations through light. This essentially gave insight as to the specific patterns of activity and could lead to reducing alcohol use, as well as a greater understanding, and a better diagnosis of epilepsy and depression.
However, scientists have had great obstacles using optogenetics on humans. Altering and re-engineering brain cells in mice may be acceptable, but as it stands now implementing this in the human brain has yet to become an option.
Elizabeth Hillman, a biomedical engineer at Columbia University, said in an interview with NPR, “It’s really hard to get light to go deep, and we all know this just from trying to shine a flashlight through our hand.”
But scientists remain hopeful. Being able to treat addiction, depression, and schizophrenia with a flash of light may just be the future.
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