Frustrated fruit flies turn to booze

Guys, when your sweetheart says "No thanks" to sex, do you knock back a few drinks to feel better? Turns out fruit flies do much the same thing.

That's the word from a new study that may explain why both species react that way.

In Friday's issue of the journal Science, researchers propose a biological explanation. If it proves true in people, it may help scientists find new medications to fight alcoholism.

One by one, the flies were put into a container with a female that had just mated. So she was truly not interested in doing it again anytime soon and rejected the males.

The male flies went through three hourlong sessions of this every day for four days, enough to discourage them from trying. Rejected flies were then put in vials and given a choice of regular food or alcohol-laced food. They consistently went for the alcohol more than did the male flies that had just mated.

Some rejected males were moved to a different environment, where they mingled with receptive females. After the guys had sex, their yen for alcohol declined.

The researchers point to a substance in the fly brain called NPF. They theorize that pleasurable activities like having sex boost the activity of brain circuits that use NPF, and that feels good. If a fly is denied sex, the system goes into deficit, driving the fly to seek other rewarding activities such as drinking alcohol. -- AP