BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

SK channel activation for alcoholism

March 25, 2010 7:00 AM UTC

Researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at University of California, San Francisco have found that activating small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels in the nucleus accumbens region of the brain could help treat alcohol addiction.1 The team is planning to repurpose the generic SK activator chlorzoxazone for this indication, although concerns about liver toxicity need to be resolved.

Frederic Woody Hopf, associate investigator at the Ernest Gallo Center, told SciBX that "existing pharmacotherapies for alcoholism, including naltrexone and acamprosate, have moderate but mixed effectiveness in humans, perhaps reflecting effectiveness in particular subpopulations. Thus, there is considerable interest in identifying novel therapies for human alcoholism."...