Investigating the Impact of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Fetal Cardiac Development Using Photoacoustic Tomography

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is a leading cause of developmental abnormalities, yet its effects on fetal cardiac development remain understudied. We employed real-time, label-free multispectral photoacoustic tomography (PAT) to noninvasively assess cardiac development in mouse fetuses exposed to chronic alcohol. Using a custom-built PAT system, fetal hearts were imaged from E12 to E16 in alcohol-exposed (3 g/kg ethanol via oral gavage, n = 9) and control (n = 7) CD-1 mice. PAT enabled quantitative measurements of cardiac morphology, oxygen saturation (sO₂), and heart rate. Alcohol-exposed fetuses exhibited consistently lower sO₂ and greater heart rate variability, particularly at later gestational stages. While structural growth progressed in both groups, functional impairments became more pronounced with alcohol exposure. These findings suggest PAE alters fetal cardiovascular regulation despite normal anatomical development. This study highlights the utility of PAT as a high-resolution, noninvasive tool for monitoring fetal cardiac health and supports its potential application in developmental biology and prenatal diagnostics.