Scientists discover an area of the brain responsible for drinking

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have discovered how to control alcohol consumption by influencing the area of the brain associated with our behaviour and emotions.

Alcoholism is a severe disease that destroys a person’s personality and life. Recent research suggests that by blocking some of the opioid receptors in the amygdala, excessive alcohol consumption may be curbed. That is the conclusion reached by American scientists after conducting a series of tests on mice.

The so-called kappa-opioid receptors that are responsible for feelings of stress play a crucial role in human behaviour whilst drinking. By lowering the activity of the cells, scientists hope to find out how to control destructive behaviour caused by drinking. In the case of their rodent tests, their hypothesis was wholly confirmed.

Thus, alcohol consumption could be associated in many ways with the release of stress-responsible peptides in the brain. This insight opens new ways for science to treat alcoholism and also a variety of neurological disorders.