Anti-seizure drug may help reduce alcohol consumption

Washington: A new study has found that anti-seizure drug ezogabine reduced alcohol consumption in an experimental model.

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) found that alcoholism can be treated by this newly discovered mechanism that helps to regulate brain activity known as Kv7 channel modulation.

Clifford Knapp lead author of the story said that the finding is of importance because ezogabine acts by opening a particular type of potassium channel in the brain, called the Kv7 channel, which regulates activity in areas of the brain that are believed to regulate the rewarding effects of alcohol.

The researchers believe these finding will encourage the search for other drugs that act on this system to discover more effective treatments for alcoholism

The study was published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.