A brain procedure used to treat Parkinson’s disease has been shown to reduce alcohol intake by more than 90% in alcoholic monkeys.

The Oregon Health and Science University ( OHSU ) and the Oregon Primate National Research Center ( ONPRC ) Professor Christoph Bankiewicz’s team announced on the 5th that the same result came out as a result of an experiment on eight monkeys. The results of this study were published in the medical journal Nature Medicine .

When you are addicted to alcohol, the secretion of dopamine스포츠토토, also called the ‘pleasure hormone’, decreases. Alcohol consumption increases dopamine secretion, so you seek more alcohol to feel pleasure, and in this process, addiction is further deepened. The research team wanted to find out whether it is possible to stimulate dopamine secretion and reduce alcohol intake by directly touching the ventral tegmental area ( VTA

) of the brain, which is known to produce and deliver dopamine throughout the body . Through a brain procedure, the research team injected a protein gene known as glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor ( hGDNF ) into the VTA of alcoholic monkeys. This procedure is used to treat Parkinson’s disease. Eight monkeys used in the experiment were all alcoholics who habitually drank alcohol with an alcohol content of 4%.

hGDNF was injected, and the remaining 4 mice were injected with saline as a control. The research team repeated the cycle of not giving alcohol to the experimental monkeys for 4 weeks, then giving them another 4 weeks, and as a result, dopamine secretion increased in monkeys that received gene therapy and alcohol intake decreased by more than 90% compared to the control group. Confirmed.

“The results of this study suggest that gene therapy can reduce drinking relapse without the need for long-term treatment for patients,” said Professor Bankiewicz.