Effects of Binge Drinking on the Developing Brain.

Binge drinking is a pattern of alcohol drinking that raises a person's blood alcohol concentration to at least .08%, which amounts to consuming five alcoholic drinks for men and four alcoholic drinks for women in about 2 hours. It is the most common form of alcohol misuse in adolescents and young adults.

Viral vector mediated expression of mutant huntingtin in the dorsal raphe produces disease-related neuropathology but not depressive-like behaviors in wildtype mice.

Huntington׳s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a mutation in the HTT gene (mHTT) encoding the protein huntingtin. An expansion in the gene׳s CAG repeat length renders a misfolded, dysfunctional protein with an abnormally long glutamine (Q) stretch at the N terminus that often incorporates into inclusion bodies and leads to neurodegeneration in many regions of the brain. HD is characterized by motor and cognitive decline as well as mood disorders, with depression being particularly common.