The answer to treat alcohol withdrawal symptoms in people has been found in worms. Neuroscientists have generated mutant worms that do not get intoxicated by alcohol - a result that could lead to new drugs to treat humans.
Scientists accomplished this feat by inserting a modified human alcohol target into the worms.
An alcohol target is any neuronal molecule that binds alcohol, of which there are many.
"This is the first example of altering a human alcohol target to prevent intoxication in an animal," said Jon Pierce-Shimomura, an assistant professor from University of Texas at Austin's college of natural sciences.
One important aspect of this modified alcohol target, a neuronal channel called the BK channel, is that the mutation only affects its response to alcohol.
The BK channel typically regulates key functions like activity of neurons, blood vessels the respiratory tract and bladder.
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"We got pretty lucky and found a way to make the channel insensitive to alcohol without affecting its normal function," Pierce-Shimomura added.
The scientists believe the research has potential application for treating people addicted to alcohol.
"Our findings provide exciting evidence that future pharmaceuticals might aim at this portion of the alcohol target to prevent problems in alcohol abuse disorders," researchers noted.
The worms called Caenorhabditis elegans model intoxication well.
Alcohol causes the worms to slow their crawling with less wriggling from side to side.
The intoxicated worms also stop laying eggs which build up in their bodies and can be easily counted.
The modified human BK channel could be inserted into mice in further studies to investigate whether this particular alcohol target also affects tolerance, craving and other symptoms relevant to humans, researchers contended.
The findings were reported in the Journal of Neuroscience.