Resetting the Alcoholic Brain

January 23, 2017 • by Marc Airhart

The brains of people experiencing alcohol addiction have different patterns of gene expression than those without addiction. Could this lead to a new kind of therapy?

A pair of hands holding a glass of semi-clear yellowish liquid

Adron Harris, director of the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research, and his team mapped the differences in gene expression between an alcoholic's brain and a non-alcoholic's brain. They found that, as a person becomes dependent on alcohol, thousands of genes in their brains are turned up or down, like a dimmer switch on a lightbulb, compared to the same genes in a healthy person's brain.

Share


An illustration of a seagrass meadow, with the sediment cross-sectioned to reveal roots. There are two small black microhpones resting on the top of the sediment, connected by a cable running back to a metal box.

Podcast

Can Tiny Bubbles Help Save the Planet?

A juxtaposition of two head shots of a young woman and young man, against a burnt orange backdrop.

The Graduate School

Graduate Students Win at 2025 Empower Your Pitch Competition

Neural connections within the brain

College of Liberal Arts

UT Awarded NIH Center Grant for Big-Data Technology to Map the Brain