Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause severe difficulties for the developing baby. Multiple motor, behavioral and cognitive problems can surface during the child’s early years that continue into adulthood.Because of these risks, pregnant women have been urged to avoid even minimal alcohol consumption at all stages of pregnancy.
A recent study analyzed the differences in the deep gray matter volumes in the brains of children and adolescents diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) compared to children without FASD. The deep gray matter contains the brain’s "relay" stations that send and receive information between different areas of the brain.
The study, which will be published in the August 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, looked at the major structures of the brain, including the basal ganglia, hippocampus, thalamus and amygdala, which are involved in processing memory, cognition, motor function and emotions.
Corresponding author Christian Beaulieu, professor in biomedical engineering at the University of Alberta, explains that the communication that happens between areas of the brain contained in the deep gray matter are important for cognitive function. Beaulieu and colleagues conducted the first study to look at all six deep gray matter structures, comparing volume with the same brain regions in subjects in the same age range without FASD.
The research team compared two groups matched well in age, from 6 to 17 years, and gender, using high resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging to compare the deep gray matter volume in the hippocampus, amygdale, thalamus, caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus. Any changes with age were tracked.
The researchers found that in all six structures, the deep gray matter volume was reduced in the children and adolescents with FASD. The volume reductions were noted over a wide age range. Beaulieu compares reduced gray matter volume to having less horsepower under the hood. Smaller structures in the deep gray matter have less capacity to send and receive messages with different areas of the brain.
The children with FASD showed a significantly lower volume in deep gray matter, from seven to 18 percent when compared to the control group. This indicates that the structures are severely affected by alcohol consumption by the mother during fetal development. The results also showed that some of the differences were consistent with age, while others changed with age.
The findings of the study show the severity of the injury caused to the brain by the mother’s consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. While it was clear that cognitive problems stemmed from FASD, this research is helpful in understanding the specific ways that the brain is affected by FASD.
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