• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Saturday, April 17, 2021
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Novel pharmacological strategies to treat alcoholism. Focus on epigenetics

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
March 31, 2021
in Chemistry
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

This article by Dr. F. David Rodriguez is published in the journal, Current Pharmaceutical Design, 2021

IMAGE

Credit: Dr. F. David Rodriguez

Abusive alcohol drinking considerably impacts human health. Alcoholism, better defined as Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD), includes a group of pathological entities related to alcohol-induced damage. Individuals with AUD exhibit compulsive alcohol drinking and negative emotional states when alcohol drinking ceases. In the most severe AUD forms, the individuals lose control over consumption despite a decided will to stop. Some controversial issues have arisen as to whether the definition of AUD can help to delimit and characterize clinical entities related to abusive alcohol ingestion.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that approximately 3,3 million people (5,9% of global deaths) die yearly because of harmful alcohol consumption (According to WHO, as of 4 February 2021, there have been 2,25 million deaths caused by COVID-19, globally). Besides, alcohol is directly responsible for 5 % of disabling diseases and injuries worldwide.

Authorized agencies have officially approved very few pharmacological treatments to treat AUD (for example, disulfiram, opioid antagonists, acamprosate, baclofen, or topiramate). Many patients are reluctant to treatment for different reasons based on their features (age, gender, ethnicity, genetic and epigenetic background) and their alcohol drinking behavior.

Currently, no silver bullet shall rescue humankind from the burden of alcohol on health. Notwithstanding, a better understanding of ethanol’s repercussion on molecular cell targets is imperious to plan out pharmacological strategies that ameliorate or block alcohol detriment.

Despite limited favorable results, efforts continue to find drugs acting on causes and effects observed in AUD, including relapse, withdrawal, stress, or anxiety. Nowadays, clinical studies in phases I and II explore the effectiveness of drugs in AUD treatment. Examples of compounds investigated are glutamate and GABA modulators, neuropeptide antagonists, or regulators of neuroimmune responses. Some drugs administered for the treatment of mental disorders have proved efficient in the treatment of AUD. For example, aripiprazole, an antipsychotic drug, and agomelatine, a melatonergic antidepressant, showed beneficial effects by preventing alcohol relapse and craving.
The influence of alcohol on epigenetic mechanisms is a relatively new explored field that offers new avenues for research in the field. The term epigenetics includes chemical changes in DNA, proteins (histones, mainly), mRNAs, and non-coding RNAs with regulatory capacity that control gene expression.

This study provides an in-depth review of recent research that reveals the impact of alcohol on the biochemical mechanisms responsible for epigenetic control within cells. Besides, it analyzes candidate drugs that may counteract the impact of alcohol on epigenetic mechanisms and serve to advance new and tailored pharmacological treatments. Research carried out in animal models and humans (with the obvious ethical limitations imposed on human research) provides valuable information on the epigenetic regulatory processes intercepted by alcohol. The design and laboratory synthesis of new drugs aimed at specific molecular targets offers significant advances in this field.

###

AUDs are chronic and complex diseases that also claim attention, efforts, and study from the realms of psychology, psychiatry, and social sciences.

For more information, visit: https://www.eurekaselect.com/191082/article

Media Contact
Faizan ul Haq
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1381612827666210203142539

Tags: AddictionBiochemistryClinical TrialsGeneticsMedicine/HealthneurobiologyPharmaceutical ChemistryPharmaceutical SciencesPublic HealthToxicology
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

IMAGE

The fate of the planet

April 16, 2021
IMAGE

The future of particle accelerators is here

April 16, 2021

Scientists may detect signs of extraterrestrial life in the next 5 to 10 years

April 16, 2021

On the pulse of pulsars and polar light

April 16, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    Jonathan Wall receives $1.79 million to develop new amyloidosis treatment

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Terahertz accelerates beyond 5G towards 6G

    852 shares
    Share 341 Tweet 213
  • A sturdier spike protein explains the faster spread of coronavirus variants

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • UofL, Medtronic to develop epidural stimulation algorithms for spinal cord injury

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

University of WashingtonVaccineWeather/StormsVirusVirologyWeaponryVaccinesUrbanizationVehiclesUrogenital SystemZoology/Veterinary ScienceViolence/Criminals

Recent Posts

  • New amphibious centipede species discovered in Okinawa and Taiwan
  • USU researchers develop power converter for long-distance, underwater electric grids
  • The fate of the planet
  • The future of particle accelerators is here
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In