Abstract #2506

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in the Brain of Adolescent Binge Drinkers

Caroline Rae¹, Maree Teesson², Monique Bucci³, Roland G. Henry³

¹Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia; ²NDARC, the University of New South Wales, Australia; ³UCSF, United States

In animal studies, binge alcohol consumption has been shown to have deleterious effects. Here, we examined the effects of binge consumption on the brains of adolescents aged 16-17 yo using MRI and MRS. Binge drinkers, while not showing deleterious effects on cellular markers, did have significantly elevated frontal Glx. There was also an effect of gender on Glx levels, which correlated with depression and anxiety levels in drinkers and related to alcohol consumption.