UCLA researchers are developing what could become the first effective remedy for alcohol-use disorders, which affect more than 76 million people worldwide.

The team, led by UCLA researchers and molecular and medical pharmacology professors Jing Liang and Richard Olsen, conducted the research by isolating dihydromyricetin, or DHM, the key ingredient used in centuries-old Chinese treatment for alcohol-related maladies.

Their research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience this month, was only conducted on rats. But the results suggest that the compound could also be effective in humans, showing promise to mitigate both the immediate effects of alcohol consumption and more serious, long-term effects such as abuse, withdrawal and dependence.

DHM, which is extracted from the plant Hovenia dulcis, works by inhibiting the effects of alcohol on gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors in the brain.

Normally, alcohol enhances the GABA receptors’ ability to slow down brain and nervous system activity, resulting in many of the symptoms associated with drunkenness, such as drowsiness, decreased anxiety and lack of coordination.

By minimizing the immediate effects of alcohol, the team found that DHM also makes the idea of drinking less appealing.

“Looking at animal models, we anticipate that DHM will decrease the desire of alcoholics to drink alcohol,” said Mike Scott, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student who assisted with the research. “In other words, it will be a tool that will help wean them off of their addiction.”

To measure this effect, researchers tested how long it took intoxicated rats to stand up from laying after being placed on their backs in a V-shaped cradle. The rats that were injected with alcohol and DHM got up nearly 10 times more quickly than those injected with alcohol alone. After the fact, the rats treated with DHM also displayed less behaviors typical of withdrawal.

The rats administered DHM also decreased their voluntary alcohol intake dramatically. Given the opportunity, rats tend to get addicted to increasing amounts of alcohol, but rats given DHM drank only about a quarter as much as those without.

The research suggests that tolerance, withdrawal and dependence all proceed from the initial effects of alcohol, Olsen said.

Researchers caution, however, that the road to actually developing a treatment for use in humans is still a long and costly one.

“There are always many complications in turning a drug candidate into a real drug,” Olsen said. “All these potential actions remain to be verified.”

The research team will need to find a source of funding before they can proceed with trials on human subjects.

In the meantime, Liang said there may be other ways to speed public access to the benefits of DHM.

“I’m thinking right now that we will market it as a supplement,” she said. “I’ve already patented several ideas, like gum or a beverage or a patch. It’s very doable.”

Liang said she believes DHM could be effective as a supplement to help those who consume too much on one occasion, but that her ultimate hope is to make the drug available to those whose issues with alcohol are more chronic in nature.

“Alcohol-use disorders are a huge problem in our society,” Liang said. “I think DHM could bring some peace to people. That’s my hope.”