Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 26, 2025
Construction of Vapor Chambers Used to Expose Mice to Alcohol During the Equivalent of all Three Trimesters of Human Development
Published on: July 13, 2014
Maternal choline supplementation mitigates alcohol exposure effects on neonatal brain volumes
Fleur L Warton1,2,3, Christopher D Molteno4, Christopher M R Warton1
1Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Insights
Maternal choline supplementation during pregnancy protected newborns from brain volume reductions caused by prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). These brain volume increases were linked to better recognition memory in infants.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Public Health
Background:
- Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is linked to reduced brain volumes.
- Animal studies suggest choline supplementation can mitigate ethanol's developmental effects.
- Previous trials showed improved infant outcomes with maternal choline supplementation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if maternal choline supplementation protects the newborn brain from PAE-related volume reductions.
- To investigate the association between choline-induced brain volume changes and infant recognition memory.
Main Methods:
- Structural MRI was used to assess brain volumes in 50 infants exposed to alcohol in utero.
- Infants were from a randomized trial of maternal choline supplementation versus placebo.
- Recognition memory was evaluated at 12 months using the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII).
Main Results:
- Infants whose mothers received choline supplementation had larger volumes in six of 12 brain regions compared to the placebo group.
- Increased brain volumes, particularly in the right putamen and corpus callosum, correlated with higher FTII scores.
- A trend suggested that increased brain volume partially mediated the effect of choline on recognition memory.
Conclusions:
- High-dose choline supplementation during pregnancy appears to be neuroprotective against PAE-related brain structural deficits in humans.
- Choline supplementation led to larger brain volumes, which were associated with improved infant recognition memory.
- This study provides the first human evidence for choline's neuroprotective effects against PAE.
Background:
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with smaller regional and global brain volumes. In rats, gestational choline supplementation mitigates adverse developmental effects of ethanol exposure. Our recent randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled maternal choline supplementation trial showed improved somatic and functional outcomes in infants at 6.5 and 12 months postpartum. Here, we examined whether maternal choline supplementation protected the newborn brain from PAE-related volume reductions and, if so, whether these volume changes were associated with improved infant recognition memory.
Methods:
Fifty-two infants born to heavy-drinking women who had participated in a choline supplementation trial during pregnancy underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging with a multi-echo FLASH protocol on a 3T Siemens Allegra MRI (median age = 2.8 weeks postpartum). Subcortical regions were manually segmented. Recognition memory was assessed at 12 months on the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII). We examined the effects of choline on regional brain volumes, whether choline-related volume increases were associated with higher FTII scores, and the degree to which the regional volume increases mediated the effects of choline on the FTII.
Results:
Usable MRI data were acquired in 50 infants (choline: n = 27; placebo: n = 23). Normalized volumes were larger in six of 12 regions in the choline than placebo arm (t ≥ 2.05, p ≤ 0.05) and were correlated with the degree of maternal choline adherence (β ≥ 0.28, p ≤ 0.04). Larger right putamen and corpus callosum were related to higher FTII scores (r = 0.36, p = 0.02) with a trend toward partial mediation of the choline effect on recognition memory.
Conclusions:
High-dose choline supplementation during pregnancy mitigated PAE-related regional volume reductions, with larger volumes associated with improved 12-month recognition memory. These results provide the first evidence that choline may be neuroprotective against PAE-related brain structural deficits in humans.
