Chronic Plus Binge: A Better Model of Alcohol Abuse
Chronic Plus Binge: A Better Model of Alcohol Abuse; Watch the NIH IRP Video
Above: Dr. Bin Gao, Chief of the Laboratory of Liver Diseases in the Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research (DICBR), NIAAA. (Credit: NIH IRP)
The following is an excerpt from a web page feature from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Research Program (IRP):
While many people may enjoy an occasional alcoholic beverage, excessive alcohol consumption causes adverse effects on the body and mind, including changes in mood and behavior, as well as damage to the liver, heart, and pancreas. Not all chronic alcohol users go on to develop advanced liver disease (ALD), but for the 30-40 percent of heavy drinkers who develop severe liver damage—such as alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (the most common type of liver cancer)—the current lack of effective treatment strategies is sobering.
“While there are effective drugs for other types of liver disease, such as viral hepatitis, the pathogenesis for alcoholic liver damage is still not clear, and there are no approved therapies for ALD,” explains Bin Gao, Ph.D., Chief of the Laboratory of Liver Diseases in the Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “We’re working on multiple research projects at the cellular and molecular level to give us the foundational knowledge to change that.”
► Read the complete NIH IRP feature:
►Watch the NIH IRP video:
►Visit Dr. Gao's web page: Laboratory of Liver Diseases