iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
A new study has revealed that high level of estrogen — female sex hormone — is responsible for making women binge on alcohol.
The study, revealed Monday, December 30, said a preclinical study was conducted in mice.
Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine showed that the hormone oestrogen regulates binge drinking in females, causing them to “pregame” or binge. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, establishes that circulating estrogen increases binge alcohol consumption in females and contributes to known sex differences in this behavior.
“We know a lot less about what drives alcohol drinking behaviour in females because most studies of alcohol use have been done in males,” said senior author Dr. Kristen Pleil, who is also the Associate Professor of pharmacology at the university.
Yet recent studies indicate that women have increased their heavy alcohol consumption more than men. This overindulgence is set to make them more susceptible to the negative health effects of alcohol than males, said Pleil.
“Many studies show this pattern of drinking enhances alcohol’s harmful effects,” said the expert, noting that the findings could lead to novel approaches for treating alcohol use disorder in women.
To assess estrogen’s potential involvement, the team first monitored the hormone levels throughout the estrous cycle (similar to the menstrual cycle in women) of female mice and then served them alcohol.
The results showed that a high level of circulating estrogen in women drives them to drink much more than on days when their oestrogen is low. This enhanced bingeing behavior was reflected in heightened activity in those same neurons in the BNST — a brain structure involved in the processing of reward, stress, and anxiety.
“When a female takes her first sip from the bottle containing alcohol, those neurons go crazy. And if she’s in a high-estrogen state, they go even crazier,” Pleil explained, adding that extra boost of neural activity means the mice hit the bottle even harder, particularly within the first 30 minutes after the alcohol was made available.
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