Focus on: structural and functional brain abnormalities in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Prenatal alcohol exposure can lead to significant cognitive and psychosocial deficits in children.
• These impairments are observed in children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and those with heavy in utero alcohol exposure without FAS facial dysmorphology.
• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) encompass a range of neurodevelopmental outcomes associated with prenatal alcohol exposure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize the cognitive and neurobiological effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in children.
• To highlight the range of impairments observed across the spectrum of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).
• To underscore the relationship between structural brain abnormalities and cognitive deficits in affected children.

Main Methods:

• Review of neuropsychological and behavioral studies assessing cognitive domains.
• Analysis of brain-imaging studies examining brain structure and white matter integrity.
• Examination of functional imaging studies investigating brain activation patterns.

Main Results:

• Children with FASD exhibit deficits in intellectual functioning, attention, working memory, executive skills, processing speed, and academic abilities.
• Brain-imaging studies reveal structural differences in multiple brain systems and white matter abnormalities in prenatally exposed children.
• Functional imaging shows altered brain activation during tasks involving working memory, learning, and inhibitory control.

Conclusions:

• Prenatal alcohol exposure results in widespread cognitive impairments and significant alterations in brain structure and function.
• Structural brain abnormalities are linked to cognitive deficits, indicating clinical relevance.
• Neurotransmitter metabolite concentrations may also be altered in children with FASD.