Jab to sober up could take edge off harmful effects of alcohol

AN INJECTION to sober up dangerously drunk people may be on the horizon, after scientists found that a liver hormone can reverse the debilitating effects of inebriation.

In testing on drunk mice, animals lacking the hormone FGF21 took longer than their littermates to recover their righting reflex and balance following exposure to ethanol, scientists found.

Large pharmaceutical doses were also shown to “dramatically accelerate” the process of sobering up by stimulating brain cells linked to arousal even though the level of ethanol in the body did not change.

Scientists said that the study shows the liver does not just help clear alcohol out of the body but also sends a signal to the brain to protect it against the harmful effects of drunkenness. Ramping up the signal could help people sober up more quickly, which could be beneficial for bringing round patients with alcohol poisoning.

Dr Steven Kliewer, a biochemist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and study author, said: “Our hope is that FGF21 might be useful for treating the many patients who come into emergency rooms with acute alcohol poisoning.

“Increasing alertness and wakefulness would be helpful both for avoiding the need for intubation and for speeding up evaluation and treatment of other concurrent injuries.

“We’ve discovered that the liver is not only involved in metabolising alcohol but that it also sends a hormonal signal to the brain to protect against the harmful effects of intoxication, including both loss of consciousness and coordination.” The study showed that it helped the animals “come round” from the effects of alcohol intoxication even though it does nothing to break down ethanol.

The hormone FGF21 – which stands for fibroblast growth factor 21 – has already been used in clinical trials on humans for other conditions, so the team is now “exploring avenues” to test it for sobering up people.

It works by directly activating neurons in a region of the brain called the “locus coeruleus”, which regulates arousal and alertness

“Our studies reveal that the brain is the major site of action for FGF21’S effects. We are now exploring in greater depth the neuronal pathways by which FGF21 exerts its sobering effect,” said Prof David Mangelsdorf, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical.

The research was published in the journal Cell Metabolism.