Scientists identify molecular step that causes intoxication

Scientists at UCSF's Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center have identified a single brain protein that can account for most of the intoxicating effects of alcohol. The finding pinpoints perhaps the best target yet for a drug to block alcohol's effect and potentially treat alcoholism, the scientists say. The mechanisms by which alcohol acts on the brain are thought to be similar throughout the animal kingdom, since species from worms and fruit flies to mice and humans all become intoxicated at similar alcohol concentrations. But although studies have identified a number of genes that can partially influence how alcohol affects behavior, this is the first finding that a single gene and the brain protein it codes for - known as an ion channel - are responsible for the intoxicating effects of alcohol in a living organism, according to the researchers.

Full article here:

http://www.scienceblog.com/community/article2090.html

My favo(u)rite sentence: "BK channels mediate alcohol effects." Is that true BK? I haven't been to any of your parties yet...

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar on 2003-12-11 15:12 ]

I'm kinda fond of the phrase "Scientists at UCSF's Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center". Sort of like "The MD 20/20 Research Institute."

The Schlitz Malt Liquor Institute of Funkology

It says the factor "mediating" the effects of alcohol is called the BK channel.

That's the steps leading down to BK's basement.

On 2003-12-11 15:07, Johnny Dollar wrote:
Scientists ... have identified a single brain protein that can account for most of the intoxicating effects of alcohol.

it was the only brain protein that couldn't say the alphabet backwards.

On 2003-12-11 15:07, Johnny Dollar wrote:
Scientists at UCSF's Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Cente

Man, what's up with Julio?

I'll bet he's pissed that HE didn't get a research center named after him.

He's probably lying in a gutter somewhere, drunk on his own cheap wine, muttering incoherently about how Ernest got all the credit, but it was Julio himself who made he wine what it is today that rat bastard IllshowyouIllshowyouallsonsabi...

Let's all have a glass of wine for Julio, the usung Gallo brother (son? cousin? nephew? lover?).

Hmmm... what WAS the relationship between Ernest and Julio Gallo?

All right, enough with the Gallos humor, I'm outta here.