RESEARCHERS say they have successfully developed and tested a drug that could reduce the harmful effects of binge drinking.

Binge drinking, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, is a pattern of alcohol consumption that brings the blood alcohol concentration level to 0.08 per cent or more. This drinking pattern typically corresponds to five or more drinks on a single occasion for men, or four or more drinks on a single occasion for women, generally within about two hours.

This sudden bout of heavy drinking has been shown to result in long-term brain damage, particularly among teenagers whose brains are still being developed.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, showed that when ethane-beta-sultam was administered to rats on a binge-drinking regime, it reduced brain cell loss and inflammation or returned them to normal.

The researchers, which included scientists based at universities in Louvain in Belgium, Florence in Italy, and Huddersfield and London in the United Kingdom, explained that alcohol has been shown to impair brain functions. The brain has a natural defence mechanism that protects it, but this also presents a problem when trying to medicinally treat neurological illnesses. The brain barrier is facilitated through glial cells, the researchers said, which increases once exposed to alcohol through binge drinking.

The ethane-beta-sultam, when reportedly administered at the same time as the alcohol, decreased the levels of glial cells and, in turn, resulted in the compound being able to break through the barrier.

The research has been a 10-year collaboration and the results could also potentially assist in treating Alzheimer’s and dementia, as well as other neurological diseases associated with a lack of brain activity.