肯塔基州列克星敦肯塔基大学哈拉米略获首笔NIH R01拨款：研究酒精戒断期焦虑与压力的脑化学通路及性别差异，拨款编号R01AA032581
肯塔基州列克星敦市消息—肯塔基大学（University of Kentucky）11月4日发布，该校药学院助理教授阿内尔·哈拉米略（Anel Jaramillo）博士获其首笔美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）R01拨款，研究特定脑化学通路如何在酒精戒断期驱动焦虑与压力，并特别关注性别差异，以期为酒精使用障碍的新型靶向治疗提供依据。R01 为 NIH 支持研究者独立主持研究项目的拨款类别。
据该校发布，戒酒后的一段时期（戒断期）常伴随焦虑升高、不安与深重心理压力，这些情绪状态常把人推回饮酒导致复饮。哈拉米略团队聚焦一种名为垂体腺苷酸环化酶激活肽（PACAP）的神经肽：人体临床研究中，PACAP 受体的基因变异与 PACAP 水平改变已与女性的创伤后应激障碍与问题饮酒相关联。团队将以临床前模型描绘臂旁核至终纹床核（被该校称为大脑的「焦虑中枢」）的 PACAP 投射如何在戒断期改变脑细胞通讯，包括评估神经元活动、实时观察压力反应与靶向抑制 PACAP 信号三条路径。
该校发布并介绍性别差异背景：女性患者常出现「望远镜效应」，即从规律饮酒到重度酒精使用障碍的进程较男性更快，戒断期报告的压力诱发渴求与情绪困扰比率亦更高。药学院研究副院长兼首席科学官乔恩·S·索尔森（Jon S. Thorson）博士表示，获首笔 R01 是重要里程碑，该研究回应一项关键公共卫生需求。本研究受 NIH 国家酒精滥用与酒精中毒研究所拨款 R01AA032581 及国家普通医学科学研究所 P20GM130456 支持。
University of Kentucky's Anel Jaramillo in Lexington, Kentucky Wins Her First NIH R01: Studying the Brain Chemical Pathways Behind Anxiety and Stress in Alcohol
LEXINGTON, Kentucky — The University of Kentucky reported on November 4 that Anel Jaramillo, Ph.D., an assistant professor in its College of Pharmacy, has been awarded her first R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant will allow Jaramillo to explore how specific brain chemical pathways drive anxiety and stress during alcohol abstinence, with a special focus on sex-specific differences that could inform the development of new targeted treatments for alcohol use disorder. An R01 signifies that a researcher can compete nationally and manage their own independent research program.
According to the university, the period immediately following alcohol cessation, known as abstinence, often triggers heightened anxiety, restlessness and deep psychological stress, and these emotional states frequently push individuals back toward alcohol consumption, causing relapse. Jaramillo's laboratory focuses on a neuropeptide called pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide, or PACAP: in human clinical studies, genetic variations in the PACAP receptor and altered PACAP levels have been linked to PTSD and problematic drinking in females. Using preclinical models, her team will map how PACAP projections from the parabrachial nucleus to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis — described by the university as a central "anxiety hub" — alter brain cell communication during abstinence, by evaluating neuronal activity, observing stress responses in real time and using targeted neural inhibition to block PACAP signaling.
The university also set out the sex-differences background: female patients often experience a "telescoping effect," reaching severe alcohol use disorder on an accelerated timeline compared with men, and women in abstinence report higher rates of stress-induced cravings and emotional disturbance. Jon S. Thorson, Ph.D., associate dean of research and chief scientific officer at the College of Pharmacy, said receiving a first R01 is a big milestone and that the work addresses a critical public health need. The research is supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism under Award Number R01AA032581 and by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences under Award Number P20GM130456.
来源链接：肯塔基大学发布（uknow.uky.edu）： https://uknow.uky.edu/research/uk-researcher-study-alcohol-abstinence-independent-nih-grant
—-
来源：肯塔基大学
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：肯塔基大学校园（资料图）。（Wikimedia Commons）|The University of Kentucky campus (file photo). (Wikimedia Commons)
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
