Drink quickly and a lot to quickly reach intoxication. Binge-drinking has a lot of followers, especially among young people and adolescents. If we already know its harmful consequences on the health of brindle drinkers, a new study suggests that the effects would pass in the offspring. Thus, bringe-drinking would increase the risk of depression, anxiety, or even metabolic disorders.
Researchers from the Chicago School of Medicine in the United States presented a study performed on rats at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
Scientists exposed a group of male and female rats to the equivalent of six binge-drinking sessions. Then, they made them reproduce among themselves, once they were sober again. The control group never received alcohol. In the alcohol group, the researchers observed alterations in the genes that activate or inactivate physical or character traits. Genes that should have been turned on are not, and vice versa.
DNA altered by alcohol in the brain
The analysis focused on the hypothalamus, a region of the brain involved in the reproductive cycle, stress response, sleep cycles or diet. In the alcohol group, the mothers show 159 DNA modifications, the fathers 93, and the offspring 244. The authors of the study specify that the results obtained in rats cannot be directly extended to humans. However, the similarities between the rat model and humans regarding alcohol metabolism and hypothalamus functions suggest that equivalent effects occur in humans.
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