Alcohol abuse issues can start early in one's life. This is precisely the focus for researchers at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Within their recent study, the team used the revolutionary CRISPR technology to edit genes in adult mice.
Focusing on animals with the equivalent age of 10 to 18 human years old, researchers have discovered that utilising this therapy showed that mice exposed to alcohol in their “teenage” years exhibited less anxiety when completing mazes.
Providing a factory reset for the brain, allowing people to break away from the problems that early binge drinking may cause, this tool is potentially ground-breaking by allows our brains to recover from the effects early binge drinking can cause, from emotional regulation to addiction struggles. That is certainly the belief of the American National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism who funded this study.
As part of a longer-term study into alcohol dependency, this gene editing is still being submitted for review and as such will be years away from a human trial.
