Never Get Drunk: Mutation Causes Worms to Not Feel the Effects of Alcohol

Could you imagine not getting drunk--no matter how much alcohol you drank? That's the case for mutant worms created by neuroscientists. The worms can't get intoxicated by alcohol, a result that could lead to new drugs to treat symptoms of people going through alcohol withdrawal.

"This is the first example of altering a human alcohol target to prevent intoxication in an animal," said Jon Pierce-Shimomura, one of the researchers, in a news release.

An alcohol target is any neuronal molecule that binds to alcohol, of which there are many. In this case, the researchers inserted a modified human alcohol target into the worms. The modified alcohol target was a neuronal channel called the BK channel, which only affects the worm's response to alcohol. The BK channel typically regulates many important functions including activity of neurons, blood vessels, the respiratory tract and bladder. Yet the alcohol-insensitive mutation doesn't disrupt these functions at all.

Usually, alcohol causes the worms to slow their crawling with less wriggling from side to side. The worms also stop laying eggs, which can build up in their bodies and can be easily counted. Yet these symptoms weren't apparent when the genetically modified worms were exposed to alcohol.

"Our findings provide exciting evidence that future pharmaceuticals might aim at this portion of the alcohol target to prevent problems in alcohol abuse disorders," said Pierce-Shimomura. "However, it remains to be seen what aspects of these disorders would benefit."

That said, these worms are not idea for studying other areas of alcohol addiction. Yet scientists hope to move onto further trials to better examine this mutation. The modified human BK channel could potentially be inserted into mice, which would allow researchers to see whether this particular alcohol target affects tolerance, craving and other symptoms relevant to humans.

The findings are published in the Journal of Neuroscience.