This Is Your Brain… This Is Your Brain After Intermittent Binge Drinking

Newswise — DURHAM, N.C. -- Studies have demonstrated how just a few sessions of binge drinking during adolescence can knock out neurons (shown in blue arch) in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory core.

But researchers at Duke Medicine have found that binge drinking can also send hippocampal cells called astrocytes (shown in green) awry later in adulthood, potentially impairing the brain’s ability to form new synapses and heal itself from injury.

The study, published November 5 in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, used a rodent model as a surrogate for the adolescent human brain. The researchers exposed the animals to alcohol doses that would result in a blood-alcohol concentration of about .15 in humans.

Researchers didn’t see immediate effects on astrocytes, but once the animals reached adulthood, the cells appeared to go into overdrive.