The control subjects had increased activity in different brain regions. Federal scientists are also finding distinct gender-related differences among alcoholics. Alcohol works on some of the same biochemical pathways involved in the stress response. In particular, a hormone called ACTH is released during the stress response. Many scientists and drug companies have been trying to find compounds similar to ACTH that could be used to design new treatments.
Laboratory animals behave quite like humans when it comes to alcohol consumption and stress.
But if these same animals are exposed to random bouts of stress, after a week they will all drink more. Federal researchers studying the effects of early maternal separation have shown that monkeys brought up away from their mothers had twice the level of stress hormones in their blood than monkeys that were not separated from their mothers. When these same animals grew up and were given free access to alcohol, the animals that were separated at birth consumed much more than their less stressed counterparts. Figuring out alcohol addiction seems an insurmountable task, as some studies are quick to show. In one recent experiment, genetically identical animals were distributed to labs in Albany, N.Y., Portland, Ore., and Edmonton, Canada, and those who handled the animals were trained to do so in a particular way.