2015年9月28日--瑞典科学家对小鼠和大鼠的一项新的研究表明，一种用于糖尿病和肥胖症的药物，也可以成为治疗酒精依赖的有益的工具。这项研究发表在《Addict Biology》上。
研究人员发现，一种GLP-1的类似物可以当做药物来治疗酒精依赖。而这种药物以前主要用于治疗2型糖尿病以及肥胖。通常，在饮酒时，多巴胺会在大脑奖励中心释放，导致兴奋感。在小鼠中，GLP-1的类似物可以阻碍饮酒时的多巴胺释放，这意味着他们不会体验到饮酒时的快感。此外，糖尿病药物引起的大鼠的酒精摄入量的减少，以及饮用酒精的动机的消失。而这些大鼠在实验前都有酒精依赖。该药物还可以防止酒精依赖的复发，而这种复发则是酒精依赖者的主要问题之一。
似乎存在酒精依赖和暴饮暴食调节的类似机制。激素GLP-1在小肠释放，这会让我们感觉到饱。它也会在大脑中释放，从而减少食物的摄入量。目前的研究结果表明，GLP-1的生理作用远不止葡萄糖调节和食物摄入量调节，这种激素还影响着酒精摄入的调节。利用治疗糖尿病的药物来治疗有酒精依赖的人，或许会是个不错的选择，最起码药物的安全性可以得到保障，副作用也会相对明确。
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The incretin hormone, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), regulates gastric emptying, glucose-dependent stimulation of insulin secretion and glucagon release, and GLP-1 analogs are therefore approved for treatment of type II diabetes. GLP-1 receptors are expressed in reward-related areas such as the ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens, and GLP-1 was recently shown to regulate several alcohol-mediated behaviors as well as amphetamine-induced, cocaine-induced and nicotine-induced reward. The present series of experiments were undertaken to investigate the effect of the GLP-1 receptor agonist, liraglutide, on several alcohol-related behaviors in rats that model different aspects of alcohol use disorder in humans. Acute liraglutide treatment suppressed the well-documented effects of alcohol on the mesolimbic dopamine system, namely alcohol-induced accumbal dopamine release and conditioned place preference in mice. In addition, acute administration of liraglutide prevented the alcohol deprivation effect and reduced alcohol intake in outbred rats, while repeated treatment of liraglutide decreased alcohol intake in outbred rats as well as reduced operant self-administration of alcohol in selectively bred Sardinian alcohol-preferring rats. Collectively, these data suggest that GLP-1 receptor agonists could be tested for treatment of alcohol dependence in humans.