The drink made genetic changes to microglial cells, degrading their functioning.
Alcohol may slow down the brain’s ability to clear waste, possibly leading to Alzheimer’s.
The study on rat cells found that alcohol made genetic changes to microglial cells, degrading their functioning.
The amount of alcohol used was equivalent to a session of binge drinking in humans.
The microglia are cells in the brain that help regulate normal functioning.
When these cells stop working properly, the brain begins to degrade.
The link between alcohol and Alzheimer’s disease has been controversial.
Some studies have suggested low alcohol intake may have a protective effect.
However, recently researchers have identified a link between alcohol and brain inflammation.
Research has revealed that alcohol might hinder phagocytosis: the process by which proteins linked to Alzheimer’s are cleared from the brain.
Professor Douglas Feinstein, who led the study, said:
“Among the genes we saw altered were many involved in phagocytosis, which is the first time this has been shown.
While these studies were performed in isolated cells, our results suggest that alcohol impedes the ability of microglia to keep the brain clear of amyloid beta and may contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”
The results showed that phagocytosis was suppressed by around 15 percent one hour after alcohol exposure.
Professor Feinstein said:
“We didn’t continue the study to see whether phagocytosis was further impaired after longer exposures to alcohol, but it appears that these changes in microglial cells could be a contributing factor to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”
Another study has found that low doses of alcohol may help clear the brain of waste.
The previous study gave varying amounts of alcohol to mice and looked at the effect on their brains.
However, those given high levels of alcohol over a long period showed increasing levels of damaging inflammation.
The study was published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation (Kalinin et al., 2018).
