The Effect of Exposure to Alcohol During Prenatal Development

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Exposure to alcohol during prenatal development is one of the leading causes of preventable birth defects and mental impairments (Bower, Szajer, Mattson, Riley, & Murphy, 2013; Nuñez, Roussotte, &Sowell, 2011; Sowell et al., 2008a). Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), the more severe form of PAE, affects two to seven out of every 1000 individuals in the United States (May et al., as cited in Simmons, Thomas, Levy & Riley, 2010). The term Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) describes an individual with varying levels of PAE. Sampson et al. (as cited in Simmons at al., 2010) estimated that one in every 100 individuals suffers from some form of FASD. With such a high prevalence in the population, numerous studies have been done showing the detrimental effects of PAE. The purpose of this paper is to review literature in brain development and structural changes in response to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE).
PAE has several characteristic symptoms including brain and facial dsymorphology. Disruption of normal brain development due to prenatal alcohol exposure is linked to size reduction and/or damage in almost all parts of the brain (Lebel , Roussotte, & Sowell, 2011), decreased neuron generation rate, delayed and/or atypically migration of neurons during brain development, and decreased myelin and axon development (Guerri & Renau-Piqueras, 1997). PAE has also been linked to reduced motor coordination (Xie, Yang, Chappell, Li, & Waters, 2009), a lowered IQ and attention span, an increased tendency for hyperactivity, and a decreased ability in verbal learning and language skills (Yang et al., 2011). In addition, individuals exposed to high levels of alcohol in the womb have growth retardation (Lebel et al., 2011) and typical facial ...

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...y prenatal alcohol exposure. Cerebral Cortex, 18(1), 136-144. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhm039
Tajuddin, N. F., Orrico, L. A., Eriksen, J. L., & Druse, M. J. (2003). Effects of ethanol and ipsapirone on the development of midline raphe glial cells and astrocytes. Alcohol, 29, 157-164. doi:10.1016/S0741-8239(03)00024-7
Xie, N., Yang, Q., Chappell, T. D., Li, C.-X., & Waters, R. S. (2010). Prenatal alcohol exposure reduces the size of forelimb representation in motor cortex in rat: An intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) mapping study. Alcohol, 44, 185-194. doi:10.1016/j.alcohol.2009.10.014
Yang, Y., Roussotte, F., Kan, E., Sulik, K. K., Mattson, S. N., Riley, E. P., . . . Sowell, E. R. (2011). Abnormal cortical thickness alteration in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and their relationship with facial dsymorphology. Cerebral Cortex, 22, 1170-1179. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhr193

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