Fruit Flies Used to Study How Alcohol Rewires the Brain

Researchers in Texas are using fruit flies to learn about addiction. Interestingly enough, fruit flies experience a draw to alcohol and the more they drink to more they build a tolerance. They can even experience withdrawal after no longer having access to alcohol and they turn to it to help get rid of the overload on their nervous system. Another interesting fact is that the fruit flies will become less picky about who they breed with as a result of drinking. If rejected, however, they drink more and eat less. This is similar to human experience. The researchers hope is to identify the genes that contribute to the addiction and hopefully be able to translate that to humans.

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