Study Shows Surge in Estrogen Linked to Binge Drinking in Females
The hormone estrogen regulates binge drinking in females, causing them to "pregame"-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 findings, published in the journal Nature Communications.
To assess estrogen’s potential involvement, the researchers began by monitoring the hormone levels throughout estrous cycle of female mice. Then, they served up the alcohol. They found that when a female has a high level of circulating estrogen, she drinks much more than on days when her estrogen is low.
The enhanced bingeing behavior was reflected in heightened activity in the neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis.
Although the researchers suspected estrogen would have an effect on drinking, they were surprised by its mechanism of action. This steroid hormone typically regulates behaviors by binding to receptors which then travel to the nucleus, where they alter the activity of specific genes—a process that could take hours. However, researchers realized that something else must be happening when estrogen infused directly into the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis excited the neurons and triggered binge drinking within minutes.
So, the researchers tested estrogen that had been doctored so it could not enter cells and bind to nuclear receptors. They determined that when estrogen promotes bingeing, the hormone is binding to receptors on the neurons’ surface, where it directly modulates cell-cell communication.
The team identified the estrogen receptor that mediates this effect and determined that it is expressed in the excited bed nucleus of the stria terminalis neurons and in neurons from other brain regions that excite them. Inhibiting the enzyme that synthesizes estrogens could offer a novel treatment for selectively reducing alcohol consumption when hormone levels surge.
Reference: Zallar, L.J., Rivera-Irizarry, J.K., Hamor, P.U. et al. Rapid nongenomic estrogen signaling controls alcohol drinking behavior in mice. Nat Commun 15, 10725 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54737-6
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