A pill that eliminated all the effects alcohol on lab rats may one day be available to humans.

Researchers fed the rodents — who react to alcohol similarly to how people do — the new drug after having them consume enough booze to stumble and fall down. Then they measured the rodents for balance and reflexes, finding that the rats on the drug tested as if they were still sober.

According to the British Journal of Pharmacology, the rats were able to balance and walk easier than animals with normal brain immune cell activity.

“When a mouse gets drunk,” says researcher Mark Hutchinson of the University of Adelaide, “it can’t work its motor co-ordination properly. If you stop these immune cells from working, the animals didn’t get drunk.”

One would expect that more testing is needed before being deemed safe for human use, but the future success of this research seems high.

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