By PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: Complete Post through this link…
A study conducted at Penn State University suggests that binge drinking during adolescence may cause irreversible dysregulation of neurons in the brain, potentially leading to long-lasting behavioral and cognitive changes.
Heavy alcohol consumption may cause permanent dysregulation of neurons, or brain cells, in adolescents, according to a new study in mice. The findings suggest that exposure to binge-levels of alcohol during adolescence, when the brain is still developing, lead to long-lasting changes in the brain’s ability to signal and communicate — potentially setting the stage for long-term behavioral changes and hinting towards the mechanisms of alcohol-induced cognitive changes in humans.
“What we’re seeing here,” said Nikki Crowley, assistant professor in biology and biomedical engineering and Huck Early Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering, “is that if adolescent binge drinking knocks neurons off this trajectory, they might not be able to get back, even if the alcohol consumption stops.”
