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Researchers at Brown University have discovered a molecular link between hunger and the formation of "reward" memories that play a role in alcohol addiction. The insight could inform strategies for treatment and prevention, the scientists say.

The study, led by researchers at Brown's Carney Institute for Brain Science, mapped and isolated hunger-responsive neurons in the brain of the common fruit fly, which has a sophisticated brain that makes it a useful model for observing neural behavior.

The team found that hunger in food-deprived flies activated neurons containing octopamine—a fight-or-flight neurotransmitter equivalent to human norepinephrine—that influences whether alcohol is remembered as rewarding.

The findings, published in Current Biology, provide new context for understanding mechanisms that drive alcohol cravings and addiction.

"If we can understand at a smaller level how an organism like a fly can remember alcohol, that is a step forward to understanding how humans associate cues with alcohol and can provide hints at how we can prevent relapse and treat addiction," said Lewis Sherer, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown and a study first author.

Sherer works in the lab of Karla Kaun, an associate professor of neuroscience at Brown affiliated with the Carney Institute. Previous studies by scientists in Kaun's lab have helped to uncover the role of memory formation underlying addiction—how memories of alcohol as a reward can drive cravings—as well as the role alcohol and other addictive substances play in altering memory pathways.

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