Science Daily posted an article of a study done by researchers at North Carolina State Univeristy on drunk fruit flies. The purpose of the study was to measure the time it takes for fruit flies to lose postural control after being exposured to alcohol. Some flies like peope were more sensitive to alcohol while others were more tolerant. The researchers were able to locate specific genes that played a role in how the alcohol affected the flies. The data collected was then applied to human studies to see if the outcomes would be the same. It was found that the same genes that are affected by alcohol in fruit flies also apply in humans. A total of 582 genes where discovered that are affected by alcohol. The researchers hope that the discovery of these genes will eventually lead to preventatives and/or treatments to help people with alcoholism. The discovery of these genes is important especially if it can lead to ways of helping alcoholics. There are many people who struggle with it and some are not able to do it on their own and having a way to help them would be very benefical to those people and their families.
The Article-
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061020080712.htmAnother Article-
http://www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com/alcoholism/drunken-fruit-flies-provide-insight-into-alcohol-tolerance/[caption id="attachment_7987" align="alignnone" width="275" caption="Drunk Fruit Fly"]
[/caption]
[/caption]
What an amazing article! This was a very interesting way to go about locating genes affected by alcohol in fruit flies. I know human genes are very similar to that of fruit flies, but I would have never imagined fruit flies having the same reaction as humans. I would have sooner thought it would kill them. This would be amazing to see a follow up on addiction counseling who used this information to find a new style of counseling.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cool article. The fact that they got flies drunk then figured out what genes are affected by alcohol and are trying to apply it to help out a serious addiction in the world is amazing and inventive. Hopefully this is a way that the scientist can figure out what genes cause alcoholism and how it can be prevented. Hopefully they keep following up on this study and figure it out, but if it is never figured out at least the flies had a good time. Love that the flies are drinking Pabst in the picture too!
ReplyDeleteThis article is really interesting. The fact that fruit flies are being used to help researchers find out more about diseases is amazing, but to get fruit flies drunk to help with diseases is even better.
ReplyDelete