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Growth hormones 'could repair brain damage': Swedish study

Published: 30 Sep 09 07:43 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/22374/20090930/

Brain damage due to alcohol abuse, previously considered irreversible, may by repairable with the help of growth hormones, Swedish researchers have learned.

“This could be a very big discovery,” said Fred Nyberg, a biologist at Uppsala University, to the Upsala Nya Tidning (UNT) newspaper.

Previous studies have shown that prolonged alcohol abuse can impede the growth of new nerve cells in parts of the brain connected to memory and cognitive functions.

But new studies looking at nerve cells of animals which have received opiates like morphine or heroin, as well as growth hormones, show that nerve cell growth does in fact take place.

“Now we’re going to perform tests on a wider scale and on animals which have been exposed to alcohol,” Nyberg told the newspaper, adding that clinical trials on humans could be underway within a few years.

“We’re already testing a growth hormone in cooperation with Uppsala University Hospital on one of their patients who has been taken opiates for many years because of pain. The results look promising.”

The studies are a part of a project involving Nyberg, other colleagues at Uppsala University, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, as well as researchers from Helsinki, Finland

TT/David Landes (news@thelocal.se)

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08:25 September 30, 2009 by peropaco
Great news; now they should start a country-wide forced growth hormone therapy
08:56 September 30, 2009 by Xavid
Sounds good. Lets go grab a drink to celebrate.
10:24 September 30, 2009 by jose_s
of all illnesses that we need a cure for i think alcoholism based brain damage should be last on the list next to carpal tunnel for obsessive masturbators... lest work on cures for those that really need it...
14:40 September 30, 2009 by bettan1
Let's don't deal with the cause, let's deal with the effects. Invent a fix-it pill. Then we can go on celebrating the foul behavior because any consequences can get a quick fix.
15:48 September 30, 2009 by Roger O. Thornhill
This type of issue will be handled like human growth hormone. No one will have access to it.
16:18 September 30, 2009 by waspy
@bettan1

Are you also opposed to research on cures for sexually transmitted diseases?
17:13 September 30, 2009 by zircon
Poor animals.
20:34 September 30, 2009 by Nemesis
Sounds like potentially useful research.

Combine a cure with a drink alcohol sensibly campaign.
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