Anti-anxiety drug can reverse brain deficits caused by alcohol

Researchers have identified an anti-anxiety drug that could potentially reverse the damage caused to the brain by alcohol abuse. 

Alcohol abuse and addiction is characterised by extended periods of heavy alcohol use, binges and abstinence, and anxiety and depression which contribute to relapse.

The findings showed that tandospirone can help our brains reboot and reverse the damage on the regeneration of brain cells, caused by heavy alcohol consumption.

"Tandospirone drug is available only in China and Japan. It is commonly used there and shown to be highly effective in treating general anxiety and well tolerated with limited adverse effects," saida researcher.

In the study, adult mice who underwent two weeks of daily treatment with the drug tandospirone saw a reduction in anxiety-like behaviours associated with alcohol withdrawal.

Tandospirone reversed the effects of 15 weeks of binge-like alcohol consumption on neurogenesis -- the ability of the brain to grow and replace neurons (brain cells).

This was also accompanied by a significant decrease in binge-like alcohol intake.

"This is a novel discovery that tandospirone can reverse the deficit in neurogenesis caused by alcohol," said the lead author of the study.

The study also opens the way to look at if neurogenesis is associated with other substance-abuse deficits, such as in memory and learning, and whether this compound can reverse these.

"Tandospirone is not just another drug that shows promise in helping to reduce binge drinking," the researcher said.

"While it could possibly have that effect, it might be able to help reboot the brain and reverse the deficits the alcohol abuse causes - both the inhibition to the brain's ability to regenerate, and the behavioural consequences that come from what alcohol is doing to the brain, like increases in anxiety and depression," she noted.

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Newly-developed spongy polymer can help repair spine

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  A team of researchers has come up with a new treatment to repair the damaged spines using a biodegradable spongy polymer.

When surgically placed in the damaged vertebrae, the polymer graft grows up to be just the right size and shape to fix the spinal column.

Researcher Lichun Lu from Mayo Clinic said that the overall goal of this research is to find ways to treat people with metastatic spinal tumors. The spine is the most common site of skeletal metastases in cancer patients, but unlike current treatments, their approach is less invasive and is inexpensive.

To develop it, Lu and her postdoctoral fellow, Xifeng Liu, sought a material that could be dehydrated down to a size compatible with posterior spinal surgery, and then, once implanted, absorb fluids from the body, expanding to replace the missing vertebrae.

This information is key for determining the optimal size of a spinal implant for use in restorative surgery. The team identified a combination of materials that are bio-compatible in animals and that they believe will work in humans.