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Alcohol abuse may lead to altered brain activity
By Staff Writer
 According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 75 percent of teens have consumed alcohol before they graduate from high school. While most youths know that there can be many negative effects that derive from underage drinking, some may not be aware that doing so can impact the neuronal activity in their brains. A team of researchers recently discussed the results of their study on this topic at the Research Society on Alcoholism in Texas. For years, information about how alcohol interacts with brain proteins has been hard to analyze. While researchers have been able to study how marijuana, cocaine and heroin attach to proteins in the brain, alcohol appeared to associate with different proteins all together. However, recent research provides some of the first insight into alcohol's interaction in the brain. These researchers found that using a combination of structural modeling, X-ray crystallography and site-directed mutagenesis might be the best way to study alcohol's interactions in the brain. Teens who abuse alcohol may be able to find treatment by enrolling in schools for troubled youths.
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