Never drink alcohol like that. It’s playing with fate

You don’t have to drink alcohol to see a certain trend in human behavior. You can even see it in movies or books, which are a reflection of our behavior (although often very imperfectly, but that’s a topic for another article). It’s about the difference between drinking alcohol in company and alone.. The first arrangement may be associated with a joyful feast and joy. The second one may be associated rather with “drinking away sorrows”. Now Scientists from the USA have discovered the reasons for such behavior.

Flies like people

The researchers looked at fruit flies, which, despite their indisputable differences from us, also have, contrary to appearances, quite a few genes similar to humans. And most importantly in this case, in many ways they react similarly to alcohol intoxication. When the insects were alone under the influence of alcohol, they moved little. But in the case of a group, their mobility increased dramatically. To understand this process, the US team looked at dopamine, which is responsible for the feeling of pleasure, but also participates in the development of addictions.

It turned out that Flies with higher dopamine levels responded even more vigorously when in a group setting than their normal counterparts. In the case of loneliness, no changes were noted. But this was still not enough for the researchers – so they decided to check which receptors in the brain are involved in these reactions. The key one turned out to be the one called D1.

Importantly, it is also associated with alcohol addiction in humans. For this reason, the American team wants to conduct further work on this topic. A better understanding of the entire process can be very useful even for the treatment of alcohol addiction. Hence, researchers want to look in particular at the dopamine D1 receptor and its role in situations related to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, social relationships, and the development of addiction.