Schoolies binge drinking solution

Alcohol-fuelled “schoolies” celebrations marking the end of high school have an unexpected impact.

Binge-drinking behaviour as teenagers can lead to problems with alcohol and other drug dependence later in life according to researchers from the University of Adelaide.

The Adelaide researchers have made a discovery that may eventually help switch off binge-drinking behaviour in adults who were binge drinkers during their adolescent years.

“Adolescence is a vulnerable time during the brain’s development – and that’s something most teenagers won’t be thinking about when they start their schoolies celebrations this month,” lead author Jon Jacobsen, a PhD student in the University of Adelaide’s Discipline of Pharmacology, said.

“During our teen years, the brain is still in a relatively immature state.

“Binge drinking worsens this situation, as alcohol undermines the normal developmental processes that affect how our brain matures.

“Therefore, when an adolescent who has been binge drinking becomes an adult, they’re often left with an immature brain, which assists in the development of alcohol dependence.”

The researchers were able to prevent some of these detrimental behaviors observed in adulthood, by using a drug that blocks a specific response from the immune system in the brain.

The drug is (+)-Naltrexone which is known to block the immune receptor Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4).

“This drug effectively switched off the impulse in mice to binge drink,” senior author Professor Mark Hutchinson, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics at the University of Adelaide, said.

“The mice given this drug still sought out alcohol, but their level of drinking was greatly reduced.”

Professor Hutchinson said this research is among the first of its kind to show a link between the brain’s immune system and later-life problems caused by binge drinking during adolescence.