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Fly Away From Addiction: Testing Dibenzazepine's Effect on Ethanol Preference in Drosophila Melanogaster

CSEF · 2026 Zoology (Junior Division)

Lilly Swigert

Overview

Objectives According to W.H.O., 400 million people worldwide suffer from alcohol addiction. Due to this, this research aimed to find a treatment for alcohol addiction through a Drosophila model by inducing ethanol addiction and measuring if ethanol preference would be reduced when given Dibenzazepine, a γ-secretase inhibitor. Methods To induce addiction, Drosophila were given 15% ethanol through capillaries in a CAFE Assay for two days. After the two days, Drosophila were separated into groups and treated with either 0.00mg/ml, 0.11mg/ml, or 0.14mg/ml Dibenzazepine. Post treatment, a choice test was conducted in which Drosophila were given 15% ethanol and normal food. After the choice test, the distance the food moved in the capillary was measured to quantify Normalized Food Consumption. Results The results were based on the normalized food consumption for each type of food. It was found that the group given 0.11mg/ml of Dibenzazepine consumed the least amount of ethanol, 0.38µl/mg, instead of the hypothesized 0.14mg/ml, which consumed 0.42ml/mg, compared to the control that consumed 0.52ml/mg of ethanol. In addition, Drosophila given 0.14mg/ml of Dibenzazepine had the most equalized consumption with a 0.10µl/mg difference between food types. Conclusion This research has shown that Dibenzazepine is a slightly effective alcohol addiction treatment. The Drosophila given Dibenzazepine consumed a decreased amount of 15% ethanol compared to Drosophila not given any. Although the response was not proportional to the amount given.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2026 Zoology (Junior Division) · Entry J-20-12

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