Binge drinking has a powerful impact on the adolescent brain

Medical Xpress, Neuroscience News and other websites report on a UB preclinical study that examines how binge drinking affects adolescents, especially the adolescent brain. Prior research has suggested that alcohol exposure during adolescence can lead to the development of various health risks, such as addiction, depression and brain trauma, in adulthood. “To this end, we wanted to understand how adolescent binge drinking changes brain function and brain connectivity, the ability of different regions in the brain to interact,” said Panayotis K. Thanos, PhD, senior author and senior research scientist in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.