Binge drinking is an emerging pattern of alcohol consumption among young adult population, even among pregnant women, which causes detrimental effects on the brain. We are particularly interested in the long-term effects of binge alcohol consumption during prenatal and early postnatal periods on offspring’s cognitive, emotive and motivational behaviour. Previous research from our laboratory has demonstrated that maternal binge alcohol drinking during gestation and lactation periods causes cognitive deficits, motor impairments, anxiety-like behaviour and increased risk to drug addiction in mice.

Our current work focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the increased vulnerability to cocaine and cannabinoids consumption in adult mice after developmental alcohol exposure.