Drinking highly caffeinated alcoholic beverages triggers changes in the adolescent brain similar to taking cocaine, and the consequences last into adulthood as an altered ability to deal with rewarding substances, according to a Purdue University study.
Researchers looked at the effects of highly caffeinated energy drinks and highly caffeinated alcohol in adolescent mice. These alcohol studies cannot be performed in adolescent humans, but changes seen in mouse brains with drugs of abuse have been shown to correlate to those in humans in many drug studies.
These energy drinks can contain as much as 10 times the caffeine as soda and are often marketed to adolescents. But little is known about the health effects of the drinks, especially when consumed with alcohol during adolescence.
Researchers published results in the journal Alcohol that showed adolescent mice given high-caffeine energy drinks were not more likely than a control group to drink more alcohol as adults.
But when those high levels of caffeine were mixed with alcohol and given to adolescent mice, they showed physical and neurochemical signs similar to mice given cocaine. Those results were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
"It seems the two substances together push them over a limit that causes changes in their behavior and changes the neurochemistry in their brains," said the author. "We're clearly seeing effects of the combined drinks that we would not see if drinking one or the other."
With repeated exposure to the caffeinated alcohol, those adolescent mice became increasingly more active, much like mice given cocaine. The researchers also detected increased levels of the protein ΔFosB, which is marker of long-term changes in neurochemistry, elevated in those abusing drugs such as cocaine or morphine.
"That's one reason why it's so difficult for drug users to quit because of these lasting changes in the brain," author said.
Those same mice, as adults, showed a different preference or valuation of cocaine. Researchers found that mice exposed to caffeinated alcohol during adolescence were less sensitive to the pleasurable effects of cocaine. While this sounds positive, it could mean that such a mouse would use more cocaine to get the same feeling as a control mouse.
To test that theory, researchers investigated if mice exposed to caffeinated alcohol during adolescence would consume higher amounts of a similarly pleasurable substance - saccharine, an artificial sweetener. They predicted that if the mice exhibited a numbed sense of reward, they would consume more saccharine. They found that the caffeine/alcohol-exposed mice drank significantly more saccharine than mice exposed to water during adolescence, confirming that the caffeine/alcohol-exposed mice must have had a chemical change in the brain.
http://www.alcoholjournal.org/article/S0741-8329(16)30084-2/abstract
Mixing energy drinks, alcohol may affect adolescent brains like cocaine
- 1,693 views
- Added
Edited
Latest News
Nanoparticle delivery of FZ…
By newseditor
Posted 14 May
Cell vulnerability 'fingerp…
By newseditor
Posted 14 May
Human skeletal muscle aging…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Disruption of organellar co…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Functional heterogeneity of…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Other Top Stories
Genetic mutations in wheat crops
Read more
Why plant tissues have a sense of direction
Read more
E-Plant in the making!
Read more
The phytotoxin fusicoccin to repair damaged axons
Read more
Transgenic plants against malaria
Read more
Protocols
Mime-seq 2.0: a method to s…
By newseditor
Posted 13 May
Improved detection of DNA r…
By newseditor
Posted 09 May
Single-cell adhesive profil…
By newseditor
Posted 07 May
Parasympathetic neurons der…
By newseditor
Posted 07 May
Non-invasive measurements o…
By newseditor
Posted 05 May
Publications
Messenger RNA transport on…
By newseditor
Posted 14 May
FOXF1 promotes tumor vessel…
By newseditor
Posted 14 May
Spatial transcriptomics rev…
By newseditor
Posted 14 May
The microbiota drives diurn…
By newseditor
Posted 14 May
Mitigation of TDP-43 toxic…
By newseditor
Posted 14 May
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar