Twenty-first birthday drinking: Extreme-drinking episodes and white matter microstructural changes in the fornix and corpus callosum.

ABSTRACT: The 21st birthday celebration is characterized by extreme alcohol consumption. Accumulating evidence suggests that high-dose bingeing is related to structural brain changes and cognitive deficits. This is particularly problematic in the transition from adolescence to adulthood when the brain is still maturing, elevating the brain's sensitivity to the acute effects of alcohol intoxication. Heavy drinking is associated with reduced structural integrity in the hippocampus and corpus callosum and is accompanied by cognitive deficits. However, there is little research examining changes in the human brain related to discrete heavy-drinking episodes. The present study investigated whether alcohol exposure during a 21st birthday celebration would result in changes to white matter microstructure by

SUBMITTER: Boness CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7263958 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature