Teen binge drinking may change brain

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., April 5 (UPI) -- Teen binge drinking may affect the growth of the cortex in the brain that could result in lasting brain damage, U.S. researchers suggest.

Fulton Crews, a professor of pharmacology and director of the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, says adolescence -- ages 12-20 -- is a critical period for brain development when the growth of the cortex reaches a peak, coupled with major rearrangements of neurons.

This brain remodeling may help people adapt to the demands of life at adulthood nears, Crews says.

"It's also a time when the brain's developing neural circuits are more sensitive to disruption," Crews says in a statement. "The growing adolescent frontal cortex is much more sensitive to damage than the adult frontal cortex, given the same amount of alcohol."

The study using mice, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, found magnetic resonance imaging revealed smaller forebrain volume and size in adult animals in mice that experienced adolescent alcohol binge drinking.

"Our findings suggest that human individuals who drink heavily during adolescence may be more likely to have deficits in being able to adapt successfully to changing life situations as adults, possibly tied to chemical and or structural changes in the frontal cortex," Crews says.

"This is the part of the brain that allows us to predict consequences of our actions, control our impulses, refine our reasoning, and evaluate long- and short-term rewards."