Zeitschrift für Alkoholismus und Drogenabhängigkeit
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Changes in the Innate Immune Responses by Intermittent Ethanol Consumption May Influence Cognition in Susceptible Adolescent Binge Drinkers

Frédéric Lallemand, Roberta J Ward, Philippe De Witte, Géraldine Petit, Mélanie Saeremans, Paul Verbanck, Xavier Noel and Salvatore Campanella

Binge drinking is an increasing social problem, particularly in adolescents. Cognitive deficits may occur as a result of such drinking patterns, although the biochemical processes involved in such changes are unclear. Recent studies in a rat model of binge drinking have shown that the innate immune system is activated in both the periphery and a specific brain region, the hippocampus. It was therefore of interest to ascertain whether a) inflammatory markers were present in the blood of University students, N=24, identified as binge drinkers for at least 2 years, and b) whether cognitive function was impaired, by comparison to controls, N=24. There was a significantly increased mean plasma TNFα value in male binge drinkers by comparison to controls, P>0.007, while the female binge drinkers showed a significantly lower mean value for TNFα, P<0.05, by comparison to controls. An inflammatory profile, as assessed by increased plasma values of IL-6, was evident in binge drinkers, although the values did not reach significance. Although there were significant differences between the controls and binge drinking individuals with respect to the Trail-Making test and semantic fluency, both of which were increased, (possibly indicating a compensation mechanism), no gross neuropsychological changes were identified in the binge drinking group. This may relate to the fact that such individuals were University students with high cognitive capacity. Continued activation of the innate immune system in such ‘binge drinking’ individuals may ultimately contribute to neuropsychiatric deficits.