Investigating Links Between Prenatal Cannabis Exposure and Brain Development Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Increasing cannabis use during pregnancy necessitates updated research on prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) impacts.
• Existing reviews are outdated and lack insights from recent large longitudinal datasets.
• Understanding PCE's effects on brain development is crucial for public health guidance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an updated narrative review of associations between PCE and MRI-based brain outcomes.
• To examine brain development from in utero through adolescence following PCE.
• To identify gaps and inconsistencies in current research methodologies.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search for studies published after 2019.
• Inclusion of studies utilizing structural MRI, diffusion-weighted imaging, and fMRI (resting-state and task-based).
• Analysis of 9 studies with varying focus on in utero, infant, and adolescent brain outcomes.

Main Results:

• Prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) linked to brain differences in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions across developmental stages.
• Multiple MRI modalities showed associations, but no consistent trend in PCE's impact was detected.
• Limited studies integrated MRI findings with behavioral outcomes (3 out of 9).

Conclusions:

• Current literature presents inconsistent MRI findings regarding PCE's impact on brain development.
• Significant methodological variations exist in assessing exposure and controlling for confounding factors.
• Future research requires robust designs capturing exposure details and confounding variables for meta-analysis.