The effects of binge drinking on the developing brain is a prevalent topic for those in their college years. Researchers on campus are exploring what exactly those effects are and when they occur.

Before graduating in 2015 with a degree in integrative neuroscience, Brandon Lew worked in psychology professor Lisa Savage’s lab to determine the behavioral and neurochemical effects of chronic binge drinking on adolescents and how it compares to that of adults. Lew is currently a first-year MD/Ph.D. student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center with an interest in neuroimaging.

Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks in one sitting, and Lew’s research found that chronic binge drinking, regardless of age, causes a deficiency in reversal learning. Reversal learning is the ability to stop responding to a stimulus that was previously normally responded to, such as eating sugar for several years and then cutting sugar out of the diet completely.

Since he left, the lab is continuing to explore the factors and whether or not there is a specific age range in which these effects are most prevalent.

“We were not able to determine a definitive age effect in my research,” Lew said. “However, the Savage Lab is continuing work to understand adolescent sensitivity to alcohol-related impairments.”

Lew used adolescent and adult rats to study binge drinking by giving the rats alcohol consistently for a limited period of time. The rats were then given a recovery period of three weeks without any alcohol, and then went through behavioral learning and memory tests to evaluate the effects. An ELISA test, which is a a biochemical assessment method, was then run to determine the level of neurotrophins in the brain. Neurotrophins are chemicals that help neurons, or brain cells, grow and multiply.

The research hypothesized that lower neurotrophin levels could be linked to alcohol-induced brain damage. However, there was no indication that there was a significantly smaller amount of neurotrophins between groups.

Continuing the research conducted by Lew in her lab is important in understanding and possibly finding ways to treat the effects of alcoholism, Savage said.

“The age one starts drinking and the pattern in which one drinks sets the pattern for how frequently and how much someone will drink across his/her lifetime,” Savage wrote in an email. “Our lab focuses on the brain damage and cognitive consequences of long-term alcoholism. When alcoholics become abstinent there is some recovery of brain loss and cognitive loss. We want to understand how the brain recovers, so we can make the process as effective as possible.”

As a graduate student, Lew is looking to expand his areas of research, but said he was grateful for the opportunities in research he was able to participate in during his time at BU.

“I have always enjoyed science,” Lew said. “I find research exciting and was very privileged to be able to perform research as an undergraduate.”