A research team including a Nepali, Prafulla Aryal, of the Salk Institute of Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California, has located the alcohol-binding site in the brain that could help treat alcoholism.

After locating a potential alcohol-binding site in the brain, Aryal systematically introduced amino acid substitutions to the site to deny alcohol molecules access to the site. With the introduction of the substitution, alcohol no longer had its effect confirming that the portion of the brain being worked on was indeed instrumental in binding alcohol.

This site is also responsible for the brain’s response to epileptic seizures. This study is the closest scientists have come to understanding how alcohol affects the brain.

With the finding, “it may be possible to develop a drug that antagonizes the actions of alcohol for the treatment of alcohol dependence,” said the Institute in a statement.

“Alternatively, if scientists could find a novel drug that fits the alcohol-binding site, this would dampen overall neuronal excitability in the brain and perhaps provide a new tool for treating epilepsy too,” the team´s leader Dr Paul A Slesinger, associate professor in the Peptide Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, said in the statement.

This research was conducted under the aegis of National Institute on Alcohol abuse and Alcoholism and was also supported by General Medical Sciences, the HN & Frances Berger Foundation and the Salk Institute for biological Studies.

The Salk Institute, a not-for-profit organization, was founded by Dr. Jonas Salk, who discovered the Polio vaccine and chose to distribute it throughout the world, without proprietary concern, to eradicate the disease.