Alcoholism: cognitive impairment prospects treatment
The National Institute of Health and
Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris organized a symposium on alcohol and
alcoholism in order to present the results of its research teams who worked on
the subject. This event, says the press release issued by the Institute, gave
an update on work completed as part of a research program on the effects of
alcohol, initiated by Christian in Bréchot, Director General of the Inserm.
Impaired memory and learning
The results of the Inserm team of
Caen, "Cognitive neuropsychology and neuroanatomy of human memory" on
the assessment and treatment of memory disorders in Korsakoff's syndrome were
especially presented.
The objective of this research was
to evaluate, in alcohol-dependent (with or without an amnesic Korsakoff
syndrome), disorders of memory that could affect the acquisition of knowledge
through, for example, a training or vocational rehabilitation.
The results indicate a selective
impairment of learning ability for alcohol-dependent patients and complete for
patients with amnesic Korsakoff syndrome. Immediately after weaning, cognitive
alcohol-dependent patients persist for a period of time that remains to be
determined.
New pharmacological approach
The CNRS team Tangi Mauritius, based
in Montpellier, presented the discovery of a drug target in the treatment of
drug addiction to alcohol. The sigma1 receptor is a neuronal protein involved
in glutamatergic and monoaminergic neurotransmission.
"When alcohol withdrawal,
modulation of the expression and the sigma1 receptor stimulation facilitates
optimal recovery of cognitive function," said the statement.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
The deleterious effects of alcohol
consumption during pregnancy on fetal brain development vary in intensity from
one fetus to the other, suggesting the involvement of factors modulating the
toxicity of ethanol.
Team Gressens Pierre, director of
the Inserm "Pathophysiology, functional consequences and neuroprotection
damage the developing brain" unit, presented the results of his research
on the role of mitochondria and cellular energy metabolism on the toxicity of
ethanol during brain development in mice.
Their experiments were designed to
test the hypothesis that amplification of the deleterious effects of ethanol
inhibition of the mitochondrial respiratory chain.
The results pave the way for an
approach to fetal alcohol syndrome, the leading cause of mental retardation in non-genetic
origin in children.
Beyond the presentation of these
three avenues of research themes of the mechanism of addiction and the
molecular and cellular toxicity were also featured in the conference program.
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