Oxytocin Study Shows it has 'Sobering Up' Influences

It seems the 'love' hormone oxytocin may do more than play a vital role in our social and sexual behaviour. It could be a useful influence on the reducing the intoxicating effect of alcohol.
Sydney University researchers have infused oxytocin in the brains to rats which were then given alcohol.
"In the rat equivalent of a sobriety test, the rats given alcohol and oxytocin passed with flying colours, while those given alcohol without oxytocin were seriously impaired," said Dr Michael Bowen, from the University of Sydney's School of Psychology and lead author on the study.
The researchers demonstrated that oxytocin prevents alcohol from accessing specific sites in the brain that cause alcohol's intoxicating effects, sites known as delta-subunit GABA-A receptors.
"Alcohol impairs your coordination by inhibiting the activity of brain regions that provide fine motor control. Oxytocin prevents this effect to the point where we can't tell from their behaviour that the rats are actually drunk. It's a truly remarkable effect," Dr Bowen said.
The next step in the study is to see in oxytocin has a 'sobering-up' effect in humans.
"The first step will be to ensure we have a method of drug delivery for humans that allows sufficient amounts of oxytocin to reach the brain. If we can do that, we suspect that oxytocin could also leave speech and cognition much less impaired after relatively high levels of alcohol consumption," Dr Bowen said.
"While oxytocin might reduce your level of intoxication, it won't actually change your blood alcohol level," Dr Bowen said. "This is because the oxytocin is preventing the alcohol from accessing the sites in the brain that make you intoxicated, it is not causing the alcohol to leave your system any faster".
Researchers also found, in separate experiments that oxytocin reduces alcohol consumption and craving in both rats and humans.
"We believe that the effects of oxytocin on alcohol consumption and craving act through a similar mechanism in the brain to the one identified in our research," said Dr Bowen.
Their findings could see the development of new oxytocin-based treatments for alcohol-use disorders that target this mechanism.
The report is published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences