Wino worm

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Wino worms show booze tolerance

By Kylie Walker

16dec03

MUTANT worms may hold the key to why some drinkers can booze all night without a slur or stumble – yet others disgrace themselves after just a few.

 

Hundreds of worms got wasted when US researchers set out to find out why people behave differently when they get drunk.

 

Most of the inebriated worms wiggled less, moved more slowly and laid fewer eggs before falling into "a state of profound sedation".

 

However, the University of California team found some of them remained sober, even after soaking up the equivalent of the human drink-driving blood alcohol limit.

 

The researchers discovered the more tolerant worms carried a mutated gene that rendered them immune to the intoxicating effects of alcohol.

 

 

 

In their findings, published in this month's Cell journal, the team claimed the discovery could be used to develop a new treatment for alcoholism.

 

Humans with a high tolerance for alcohol were more likely to be addicted, said researcher Dr Steven McIntire.

 

The study suggests the gene slo-1 is responsible for the behavioural response to alcohol – if the gene is defective, alcohol may have no effect.

 

Dr McIntire said drugs that affected the slo-1 system could alter the body's response to alcohol.

 

However, National Drug Research Institute director Professor Tim Stockwell warned against the notion of developing drugs to combat alcohol addiction.

 

"There's so much research that claims it's going to help with the treatment of alcohol, but the evidence is that it's a far more complex problem than that," Prof Stockwell said.

 

"Some chemical agents seem to help but it's an enormous leap to go from sober earthworms to a cure for alcoholism."

 

While a degree of alcohol tolerance could undoubtedly be attributed to genetics, Prof Stockwell said many other factors came into play.

 

"There's a difference between the sexes, age, the time of day, and there's acquired tolerance," he said.

 

"Body size and mass also has a big impact – the larger you are the longer it takes for alcohol to diffuse through the system."

 

The research team now hoped to find the exact site on the gene where alcohol exerted its effects, then start studying mammals in an attempt to alter the actions of alcohol, Dr McIntire said.