NIH-funded study in mice merits further investigation as a potential treatment A specific strain of a common bacteria found in most people with alcoholic hepatitis correlates with greater liver disease severity and mortality, according to a new study published in Nature. Alcoholic hepatitis is a serious form of alcohol-associated liver disease, and people with it … Read more
New preclinical research reported in animal models shows that exposure to compounds found in marijuana called cannabinoids (CBs), which includes cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), during early pregnancy can cause malformations in the developing embryo. The research also demonstrated that co-exposure to CBs and alcohol increased the likelihood of birth defects involving the face and … Read more
A new study led by researchers at the National Institute and Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), identifies regions of the rat genome that are associated with a behavior that is highly predictive of addiction onset and progression. The region in the rat genome with the strongest association … Read more
New preclinical research in rats has identified a link between adolescent alcohol exposure and specific molecular changes in the brain that contribute to increased anxiety in adulthood. A large body of evidence demonstrates a strong relationship between alcohol and anxiety problems in humans. “These findings provide insight into the mechanisms through which alcohol-induced brain changes … Read more
Assessing the patterns of energy use and neuronal activity simultaneously in the human brain improves our understanding of how alcohol affects the brain, according to new research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. The new approach for characterizing brain energetic patterns could also be useful for studying other neuropsychiatric diseases. A report of … Read more
A new study has found that alcohol use during pregnancy can affect a woman’s immune system in ways that may predict her child’s neurodevelopmental outcome. Specific changes in a mother’s immune system can also serve as an indicator of prenatal alcohol use. Prenatal alcohol use can cause an array of health effects in offspring, collectively … Read more