article_snippet.sent: This is because drinking excessive amounts of alcohol when young can damage the brain and cause permanent changes to DNA.
article_snippet.sent: Alcohol changes genes in brain cells, which stop the cells developing connections between genes, altering behaviour, genes said.
article_snippet.sent: As part of the study, Professor Pandey and Professor Subhash Pandey, of the University of Illinois College of Medicine team carried out lab experiments on 28-day-old rats to investigate how alcohol would affect Professor Pandey and his team brain development.
article_snippet.sent: Rats exposed to alcohol showed changes in behaviour that lasted into adulthood, long after the exposure to alcohol ended.
article_snippet.sent: Alcohol causes changes in the DNA in brain cells.
article_snippet.sent: When brain tissue from the area of the brain called the amygdala was examined, rats given alcohol showed changes to rats given alcohol DNA, known as epigenetic changes.
article_snippet.sent: The rats exposed to alcohol had more tightly coiled DNA.
article_snippet.sent: The rats exposed to alcohol also had increased levels of a protein called HDAC2, which modifies histones, causing DNA to be wound tighter around DNA.
article_snippet.sent: The lower activity of this gene persisted in adulthood, even if alcohol exposure was stopped weeks before.
article_snippet.sent: The effect of this was that The rats exposed to alcohol exhibited less anxiety and reduced alcohol intake.
highlights_snippet.sent: Binge drinking when young can cause changes in DNA in brain cells .
  