MEDICAL FRONTIERS

Anti-stress peptide in brain
could help treat alcoholism

Washington: Scientists have highlighted the power of an endogenous anti-stress peptide in the brain to prevent and even reverse some of the cellular effects of acute alcohol and alcohol dependence in animal models. The work by scientists at the Scripps Research Institute could lead to the development of novel drugs to treat alcoholism. Specifically, the study led by Scripps Research Associate Professor Marisa Roberto examined the interaction between two competing agents – one a stress peptide that promotes excessive alcohol drinking the other an anti-stress peptide that opposes it.
The results confirm that drugs derived from the anti-stress peptide nociceptin could play an important role in treating a complex and multi-faceted disease.
Roberto and her team focus on the central nucleus of the amygdala, a region of the brain that has long been implicated in the elevated anxiety and excessive drinking associated with alcohol dependence and withdrawal. In previous animal studies, Roberto and her colleagues demonstrated that a particular stress peptide produced in the amygdala, corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF), plays a key role in the transition from alcohol use to alcohol dependence. They also demonstrated that nociceptin, a peptide that structurally resembles endogenous opioids, can both prevent and reverse some effects of alcohol.
At the behavioural level, nociceptin regulates anxiety and alcohol drinking in rats.

Pig’s heart valve saves life of vegetarian woman
London: A vegetarian in Scotland was saved from a serious heart ailment after being fitted with a pig’s heart valve, in a life or death surgery. Robyn Carnie, then 18, had a difficult decision to make when she had to be fitted with a pig’s valve after being diagnosed with a rare heart disease aortic stenosis and regurgitation. Her body’s largest artery had narrowed, allowing blood to flow back into the heart –a condition that affects just two per cent of the population. She was told that, as a matter of life and death, she needed a complex surgery to replace her own failing heart valve with an animal valve. Surgeons fitted Carnie with a pig valve, which should last around 20 years, in an operation at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank in 2009. Carnie also admits that after the surgery she is now fitter and stronger than ever, and can continue to pursue her dreams of becoming a sports therapist.

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