Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 28, 2026

Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Quantification of Social Behavior in Adult Rats
Published on: December 14, 2014
Linear Versus Non-Linear Dose-Response Relationship Between Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Meconium Concentration of
J Y Yang1, H S Kwak2, J Y Han3
1National Institute of of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Seoul, Republic of Korea ; Department of Systems Biology, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
Presence of individual fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) in meconium is considered to be a reliable biomarker of prenatal alcohol exposure, and their concentration has been found to be linearly associated with poor postnatal development, supporting the widely extended idea that ethanol is a non-threshold teratogen. However, a growing number of epidemiological studies have consistently found a lack of adverse short- and long-term fetal outcomes at low exposure levels. We therefore aimed to investigate the relationship between the concentration of individual FAEEs and prenatal alcohol exposure in meconium samples collected within the first 6 to 12?h after birth from 182 babies born to abstainer mothers and from 54 babies born to women who self-reported either light or moderate alcohol ingestion in the second or third trimester of pregnancy. In most cases, the individual FAEE concentrations were negligible and not significantly different (P >0.05) between exposed and control babies. The concentrations appeared to increase linearly with the dose only in the few babies born to mothers who reported >3 drinks/week. These results provide evidence that the correlation between prenatal alcohol exposure and individual FAEE concentrations in meconium is non-linear shape, with a threshold probably at 3 drinks/week.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Dose Response Curve: Conventional Versus Nonmonotonic
Nonlinear Pharmacokinetics: Overview
Nonlinearity can arise due to the saturation of plasma protein-binding or...
Pharmacodynamic Models: Logarithmic Concentration–Effect Model
Nonlinear Pharmacokinetics: Dependence of Elimination Half-Life and Dose Clearance
A study on guinea pigs examined the...
Pharmacodynamic Models: Linear Concentration–Effect Model
Nonlinear Pharmacokinetics: Causes of Nonlinearity
Nonlinear drug absorption can occur when the process is rate-limited by solubility, carrier-mediated transport systems, or saturation of the presystemic gut wall or hepatic metabolism. For instance, high doses of riboflavin...

