Alcohol should not be consumed during adolescence. At this age, the developing brain would not be able to repair the damage of ethanol, according to researchers at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research ( Inserm). In addition, at this age, drinking alcohol would reduce the production of neurons and reduce immediate memory. These findings have been observed in the laboratory on rodents.
To understand the effects of binge-drinkingon the brain, the researchers conducted a study on mice. They exposed adolescent and adult animals to excessive alcohol consumption. Then, they observed the gene changes and subjected the rodents to behavioral tests.
The study reveals that excessive alcohol consumption during adolescence changes the amount of certain genes needed in repairing DNA damage and prevents the correction of the damage. Damage caused by ethanol. It would also reduce the neurogen (formation of new neurons) and promote a decline in short-term memory.
In contrast, these effects were not seen in adult mice.
“This observation is unsurprising since previous studies have shown that people exposed to early exposure to large amounts of alcohol have smaller brains.” , explains David Vaudry, researcher in cell biology, co-author of this work. “It also suggests the accumulation of damage caused by alcohol with each excessive intake”.
Adolescence should be a time of abstinence from alcohol
If the researchers did not observe similar results with moderate consumption on the brain, they recall that “taking alcohol in” reasonable “amounts seems to have other unfortunate consequencesin adolescents. It would modify synaptic connections and increase the later risk of addiction ”.
“This work, together with other evidence of the harmful effects of alcohol during adolescence, provides an additional incentive to abstain from this period of life” »Conclude the researchers.
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