Stress hormone linked to alcoholism

LA JOLLA, Calif., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say the stress hormone corticotropin-releasing factor may be key to alcohol dependence.

Study leader Marisa Roberto of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., suggest their findings may help in the development of new drug treatments for substance abuse.

The six-year long study, published in Biological Psychiatry, found corticotropin-releasing factor key to the development and maintenance of alcohol dependence in animal models. The researchers also found blocking the hormone in the rats on a long-term basis alleviated the symptoms of alcohol dependence.

"I'm excited about this study," Roberto says in a statement. "It represents an important step in understanding how the brain changes when it moves from a normal to an alcohol-dependent state."

Roberto says the study explored "the dark side" of alcohol addiction -- people being compelled to drink, not because it is pleasurable but because it relieves the anxiety generated by abstinence and the stressful effects of withdrawal.