Manipulating a particular system stress signal found in a specific brain region, could act as a therapy to taper binge drinking, according to a recent study. The study to appear in the May issue of Neuropharmacology pinpoints that deactivating a stress-signaling system found in a specific brain region can help to reduce harmful binge drinking. The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) team was led by Howard C. Becker, Ph.D., director of the Charleston Alcohol Research Center and professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. "Binge drinking is one of the most common patterns in which alcohol is consumed," explained Becker. "It's risky behavior, and one consequence of repeated binge drinking is increasing the risk for developing an alcohol use disorder," Becker added. When people drink and experience positive effects, that is partially due to pleasurable opioid receptors being activated. However, after they have finished drinking and nausea, headache, and the stress of withdrawal start to set in, the kappa opioid receptor system has been activated. Becker's team found that turning off the kappa opioid receptors in the brain decreased binge drinking. This finding suggests that the kappa opioid receptor system is important not only in the negative state of withdrawal but also in driving binge drinking itself.Hence, blocking kappa opioid receptors in the extended amygdala, therefore, could act as a therapy to taper binge drinking.