Nematodes 007

Mutant worms will help make a person invulnerable to alcohol

Tape.roo

American neurophysiologists have created mutant worms that do not get drunk. This discovery will help to create medicines that allow you to drink as much as you want without losing the clarity of speech and coordination of movements. Scientists managed to achieve this result by transplanting a modified protein to worms (so in the text – VM) that binds alcohol, according to the latest issue of The Journal of Neuroscience (Davis et al., Preserved Single Residue in the BK Potassium Channel Required for Activation by Alcohol and Intoxication in C.elegans – VM). The discovery is briefly reported on the website of the University of Texas at Austin (Mutation Stops Worms From Getting Drunk – VM).

The authors of the study achieved that the altered potassium channel of type BK stopped reacting only to alcohol, and its other important functions (regulation of neuronal activity, blood vessels, gallbladder) remained intact. BK is one of the ion channels: transport proteins that support the potential difference between the outer and inner sides of the cell membrane.

Scientists in 1999 established that the principle of alcohol is based on the opening of potassium channels and the subsequent release of potassium ions into the intercellular medium.

Unlike drugs such as cocaine, which affect only a certain part of the nervous system, alcohol affects many organs and systems of the body. Intoxication, binge drinking, hangover and other consequences of alcohol consumption are caused by completely different proteins.

Scientists note that the Caenorhabditis elegans worms they selected are well suited for modeling alcohol intoxication, since their movements become inhibited.

However, worms are not very suitable for studying other symptoms of alcoholism – and here mice will come to the aid of scientists. A modified human BK channel can be injected into rodents and so check whether these proteins affect alcohol resistance and withdrawal syndrome.

The head of the study, Professor John Pierce-Shimomura, hopes to create a drug that appears in James Bond films and allows, if necessary, to drink without getting drunk (and "overdo" any opponent). The same remedy will help to remove not only intoxication, but also alcohol dependence.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru17.07.2014