Preclinical study finds surges in oestrogen promote binge drinking in females

The hormone oestrogen regulates binge drinking in females, causing them to “consume large quantities of alcohol in the first 30 minutes after it’s offered, according to a preclinical study led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine. The study establishes–for what is thought to be the first time–that circulating oestrogen increases binge alcohol consumption in females and contributes to known sex differences in this behaviour. The findings, published Dec. 30 in the journal Nature Communications, could lead to novel approaches for treating alcohol use disorder.Binge alcohol drinking is correlated with high oestrogen levels, but a causal role for oestrogen in driving alcohol drinking has not been established. Researchers found that female mice displayed greater binge alcohol drinking and reduced avoidance when oestrogen was high during the oestrous cycle than when it was low. The pro-drinking effect of high endogenous oestrogen occurred via rapid signalling at membrane-associated oestrogen receptor alpha in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which promoted synaptic excitation of corticotropin-releasing factor neurons and facilitated their activity during alcohol drinking. Thus, this study demonstrates a rapid, nongenomic signalling mechanism for ovarian-derived oestrogen in the brain controlling behaviour in gonadally intact females.
Source: Zallar, L.J., Rivera-Irizarry, J.K., Hamor, P.U. et al. Rapid nongenomic estrogen signaling controls alcohol drinking behavior in mice. Nature Communications 15: 10725, 2024;