National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
The latest article from Alcohol Research Current Reviews explores interactions between stress and alcohol. Some people drink alcohol for stress relief, but alcohol can actually activate stress systems in the brain, acting as a stressor itself. This review article describes 1) the effects of stress on alcohol drinking and 2) how alcohol interacts with biological stress systems. Findings from animal...
Tom Donaldson, president and CEO of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS), received the Senator Harold Hughes Memorial Award today from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIAAA Deputy Director Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D., announced his selection during the 135th meeting of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol...
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), today kicked off a major collaborative study that will investigate ways to screen, identify, and treat patients in hospital emergency departments for alcohol problems. Academic emergency medical departments (EDs) at 14 institutions throughout the U.S. will participate in the study, the...
Heavy drinking during pregnancy disrupts proper brain development in children and adolescents years after they were exposed to alcohol in the womb, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. The study is the first to track children over several years to examine how heavy exposure to alcohol in utero affects brain growth over time. Using magnetic...
Neurokinin-1 receptors (NK1R) are highly expressed in brain areas involved in stress responses and drug reward. In recent years, mounting research evidence has suggested that they may help regulate important aspects of alcohol use. In a new study, researchers at the NIAAA report that a compound that blocks NK1R suppresses alcohol drinking in mice. NIAAA Clinical Director Markus Heilig, M.D...
The NIH Institute on Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) has issued a national challenge to design a wearable or discreet device to measure blood alcohol levels. Tonight’s discussion examines the history and current research on alcohol consumption and the promise of new technology. First used by the criminal justice system to enforce drunk driving laws, alcohol monitoring technology now has...
Binge drinking is common during adolescence, a period of rapid brain development. In this study, researchers used adolescent nonhuman primates to examine the effects of long-term binge alcohol consumption on brain development. They found that an 11-month period of heavy binge alcohol consumption by nonhuman primates led to a significant and persistent reduction in neurogenesis – the birth and maturation...