According to a study published in the online edition of the scientific journal Brain – those who have abused alcohol for a long time can stop gaining the ability to re hydrate and regenerate damaged brain functions.

Dr Andreas Bartsch from the University of Wuerzburg, Germany led a team of scientists using advanced brain imaging tools to study the effects of long-term alcohol abuse in otherwise healthy individuals. The damage to cognitive areas of the brain seemed most indicated by a slight, gradual loss in brain mass and irreversible brain damage.

38 days after the subjects were forced into sobriety – scientists observed an average 2 percent increase in brain mass of 14 out of the 15 subjects. One individual, who had been abusing alcohol for 25 years, the longest of all the subjects; experienced an additional brain mass loss of -0.19%.

The recovered individuals also gained back nerve cell function by about 10 to 20 percent. The study shows strong evidence towards the brain´s ability to regenerate (specifically the white matter portion of the brain) after a sizable amount of abuse. But more research is necessary to determine whether or not the continued shrinking of the one test subject´s brain is a common effect.

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