
{"id":2972,"date":"2008-07-10T10:56:30","date_gmt":"2008-07-10T18:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=2972"},"modified":"2008-07-10T10:56:30","modified_gmt":"2008-07-10T18:56:30","slug":"study-ties-ending-drinking-to-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/07\/10\/study-ties-ending-drinking-to-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Study ties ending drinking to depression"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>UNC News Services<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Scientific evidence has long suggested that moderate drinking offers some protection against heart disease, certain types of stroke and some forms of cancer. <\/p>\n<p>But new research shows that stopping drinking \u00e2\u20ac\u201d including at moderate levels \u00e2\u20ac\u201d may lead to health problems including depression and a reduced capacity of the brain to produce new neurons, a process called neurogenesis.<br \/>\nThe findings from the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at UNC appear online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our research in an animal model establishes a causal link between abstinence from alcohol drinking and depression,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said study senior author Clyde W. Hodge, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and pharmacology in the UNC School of Medicine. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In mice that voluntarily drank alcohol for 28 days, depression-like behavior was evident 14 days after termination of alcohol drinking. This suggests that people who stop drinking may experience negative mood states days or weeks after the alcohol has cleared their systems,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hodge said.<\/p>\n<p>The mice were tested for depression-like behavior using a widely recognized method called the Porsolt Swim Test. The mice are placed inside a beaker filled with water and allowed to swim for six minutes. Mice are good swimmers and have no problem completing this task. The amount of time they spend immobile (floating and not swimming) is measured as an index of despair or depression-like behavior. The more time a mouse spends immobile, the more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153depressed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d it is thought to be.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This research provides the first evidence that long-term abstinence from moderate alcohol drinking \u00e2\u20ac\u201c rather than drinking per se \u00e2\u20ac\u201c leads to a negative mood state, depression,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hodge said.<\/p>\n<p>The study also found that the emergence of depression was associated with a profound reduction in the number of neural stem cells (cells that will become neurons) and in the number of new neurons in a brain region known as the hippocampus. This brain region is critical for normal learning and memory, and recent studies show that the development of neurons in the hippocampus may regulate mood, Hodge said.<\/p>\n<p>According to the researcher, the negative mood state in mice may represent depression in humans and appears to be linked to a diminished capacity of the brain to form new neurons.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thus, people who drink moderate alcohol socially, or for potential health benefits, may experience negative mood or diminished cognitive abilities due to a loss of the brain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to form new neurons,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>But the study also found that treatment with an antidepressant drug during 14 days of abstinence prevented the development of depression and restored the capability of the brain to produce new cells.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Treatment with antidepressant drugs may help people who suffer from both alcoholism and depression by restoring the brain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to form new neurons,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hodge said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Moreover, this research provides an animal model of alcohol-related depression with which we can begin to fully understand the neurobiology underlying co-occurring alcoholism and depression, and thereby develop successful treatment options. At this point, it appears that blunted neurogenesis may underlie the effects of abstinence from alcohol drinking on mood, but understanding the mechanisms by which this<br \/>\noccurs is a key challenge for future research.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UNC News Services Scientific evidence has long suggested that moderate drinking offers some protection against heart disease, certain types of stroke and some forms of cancer. But new research shows that stopping drinking \u00e2\u20ac\u201d including at moderate levels \u00e2\u20ac\u201d may lead to health problems including depression and a reduced capacity of the brain to produce&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}