Drug reduces binge drinking side effects

A DRUG that could reduce harmful side effects of “binge drinking” has been successfully developed and tested by a team of European scientists, including the University of Huddersfield’s Professor Mike Page and Dr. Karl Hemming. There is also the potential for new ways to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases that damage the brain.

Key to the breakthrough is a compound – ethane-beta-sultam – developed by Professor Page and his university colleagues.  This is a taurine “pro-drug” that is an effective form of medication that easily enters the bloodstream before it is processed by the body into its active form.

It is difficult for drugs to get into the brain because of the “blood-brain barrier,” the natural defense mechanism that protects the brain, but which also presents a formidable obstacle to the medicinal treatment of neurological illness.

Scientists based at universities in Louvain in Belgium, Florence in Italy and Huddersfield and London in the UK have discovered that when ethane-beta-sultam is administered to rats on a binge drinking regime, it reduces the brain cell loss and inflammation that normally result from bouts of heavy binge drinking, leading to symptoms such as decreased memory.  These effects can cause long-term damage, particularly to teenagers, whose brains are still in the process of development.

Findings of the 11-strong research team are revealed in a new article published by the Journal of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. Professor Page said collaboration leading to the latest article had been in place for about ten years.

Many issues surround the prospect of a drug that masks the effects of binge drinking. “But if you accept that alcohol abuse is going to continue, then it might be sensible for society to try and treat it in some way,” he said.

The project continues and could include research to find a compound that performed even better than ethane-beta-sultam.In the longer term, there is a possibility that such compounds could help with the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia that also result from a loss of brain activity.