Anti-Seizure Drug Ezogabine may Help Reduce Alcohol Consumption

Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine have found that the anti-seizure drug ezogabine could potentially help in the road to recovery from alcoholism.

This is the latest study to first show that alcoholism can be effectively treated by this newly discovered mechanism that assists in regulating brain activity known as the Kv7 channel modulation.

"This finding is of importance because ezogabine acts by opening a particular type of potassium channel in the brain, called the Kv7 channel, which regulates activity in areas of the brain that are believed to regulate the rewarding effects of alcohol," said lead study author Clifford Knapp, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at university, via a press release. "This research indicates that drugs that open Kv7 channels might be of value in the treatment of alcoholism."

Researchers said that with more studies, they can better understand the effects of the drug and just how it influences actions of Kv7 channels.

"Because of the close proximity of the doses at which ezogabine reduces drinking and those at which it is reported to produce motor impairment, it is still important to continue to investigate how selective the actions of ezogabine are on the neuronal mechanisms that control alcohol consumption," Knapp concluded.

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More information regarding the findings can be seen via the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.