According to researchers from the Scripps Research Institute, the stress hormone corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) has been found to play an essential role in the development and continuation of alcohol dependence in lab animals.

Researchers studying alcohol dependency in rats; apart from confirming CRF plays a central role in alcohol addiction, the study also showed blocking the hormone on a long-term basis alleviated symptoms of alcohol dependence in rats, with the help of a variety of CRF antagonists.

Suggesting a potentially promising area for future drug development, the study helps understand changes in the brain when it moves from normal to an alcohol dependent state.

Originally found only in the hypothalamus, CRF, a natural substance involved in the body’s stress response, has now been localized in other areas of the brain regions, such as, the pituitary, where it stimulates the secretion of corticotropin and other biologically active substances, and in the amygdala, an area implicated in increasing levels of anxiety, withdrawal, and excessive drinking associated with alcohol dependence.

Researchers discovered increases in drinking could be prevented by administering the antagonists on a daily basis for 23 days, boosting hopes that blocking CRF signals a potential treatment for alcohol dependence in humans.

The study has been published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.