UCLA faculty voice: A hangover pill? Tests on drunk mice show promise

UCLAYunfeng LuYunfeng Lu is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineerg.  Thiscolumn appeared in the Conversation.“Civilization begins with distillation,” said William Faulkner, a writer and drinker. Although ourthirst for alcohol dates back to the Stone Age, nobody has figured out a good way to deal with the ensuing hangover after getting drunk.As a chemical engineering professor and wine enthusiast, I felt I needed to find a solution. As frivolous as this project may sound, it has serious implications. Between 8 and10 percent of emergency room visits in America are due to acute alcohol poisoning. Alcohol is theleading risk factor for premature deaths and disability among people aged 15-49 and its abuse leads to serious health problems, includingcardiovascular and liver cancer. Despite these sobering facts, current treatments for alcohol overdose largely rely on the body ’s own enzymes to break down this drug.I decided to design an antidote that could help people enjoy wine or cocktails or beer without a hangover, and at the same time create a lifesaving therapy to treat intoxication and overdose victims in the ER. I chose to create capsules filled with natural enzymes usually found in liver cells to help the body process the alcohol faster.Together with professor Cheng Ji, an expert in liver diseases from Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, and my graduate student Duo Xu, we developed an a...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news