 |
| http://9wtf.com/uploads/Meme-Drink-Alcohol-res.jpg |
Alcohol dependence is the most common form of drug abuse in the US, with around 7% of the population meeting criteria for alcoholism (Grant 1994). We all know that the
effects of alcohol are wide-ranging, impacting both behavior and physiology; it impairs judgement, motor skill, etc. It has been known to weaken the immune system, and research in the past few years has linked the effects of alcohol to HIV infection. Common sense tells us that alcohol promotes risky behaviors, including those that increase the possibility of HIV infection (sex, drugs, etc.). Recent interest in
binge drinking and HIV has produced data showing alcohol in a binge pattern changed the proportion of immune cells after SIV infection in rhesus macaques, a common animal model for HIV, and may even increase the disease course (Molina et al 2006, Poonia et al 2006). But researchers at the
Scripps Research Institute have also showed that chronic alcoholism may generate microenvironments in the body that are more vulnerable to HIV infection.
 |
| http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18r4y1modssl5jpg/k-medium.jpg |
To accomplish this study, the researchers developed a protocol in which rhesus macaques self-administered alcohol orally, twice a day for 30 days before infection and during infection. To do this, they mixed alcohol and an orange flavored drink in different ratios, and conditioned the animals to drink the solution (replacing water with the alcohol solution for a short duration). The final concentration given to the animals was 6% alcohol, similar to the
alcohol content of most beers, and animals drank enough alcohol per day to cause blood alcohol levels that in humans are greater than the legal driving limit and would decrease motor skill. When the animals were conditioned, they were infected with SIVmac251, a strain of SIV that induces high peak and steady viral loads and is also known to infect the CNS (Burdo et al 2005). SIVs, simian immunodeficiency viruses, are retroviruses that infect non-human primates and produces symptoms and changes in physiology that mirror those induced by HIV infection (it is generally believed that HIV originated from SIV crossing the species barrier to humans).
