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Updated: Jul 4, 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
Developmental alcohol exposure is exhausting: Sleep and the enduring consequences of alcohol exposure during
Donald A Wilson1, Regina M Sullivan1, John F Smiley2
1Emotional Brain Institute, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
None:
Prenatal alcohol exposure is the leading nongenetic cause of human intellectual impairment. The long-term impacts of prenatal alcohol exposure on health and well-being are diverse, including neuropathology leading to behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impairments. Additionally negative effects also occur on the physiological level, such as the endocrine, cardiovascular, and immune systems. Among these diverse impacts is sleep disruption. In this review, we describe how prenatal alcohol exposure affects sleep, and potential mechanisms of those effects. Furthermore, we outline the evidence that sleep disruption across the lifespan may be a mediator of some cognitive and behavioral impacts of developmental alcohol exposure, and thus may represent a promising target for treatment.
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