Blocking Stress Hormone Could Be Key to Treating Alcoholism.

According to HealthDay (1/28, Dotinga, http://tinyurl.com/crf-EtOH), researchers are reporting that blocking a stress hormone could become a strategy to help treat alcoholism.  Lead researcher Marisa Roberto, an associate professor at the Scripps Research Institute, said in a Scripps news release:  “Our study explored  the compulsion to drink, not because it is pleasurable — which has been the focus of much previous research — but because it relieves the anxiety generated by abstinence and the stressful effects of withdrawal.  “The hormone, known as corticotropin-releasing factor, plays a role in the body’s response to stress and is found in the brain.  Romero said it’s possible that blocking the hormone “may prevent excessive alcohol consumption under a variety of behavioral and physiological conditions.”  The researchers also found that rats exposed to the hormone-suppressing chemical didn’t become immune to the chemical’s effects over time.  That suggests that people might be able to take it repeatedly without facing a loss of effectiveness.