BIRTH DEFECTS CAN BE CAUSED BY ALCOHOL
In a new study, researchers have tried to shed light on alcohol-related birth defects.
The project, could help enhance how doctors diagnose birth defects caused by alcohol exposure in the womb.
The findings of the new study also illustrate how the precise timing of that exposure could determine the specific kinds of defects.
It is known that maternal alcohol use is the leading known and preventable cause of birth defects and mental disability in some countries.
Alcohol's effects can cause a range of cognitive, developmental and behavioural problems that typically become evident during childhood, and last a lifetime.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is at the severe end of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders .
FAS is recognized by a specific pattern of facial features: small eyelid openings, a smooth ridge on the upper lip (absence of a central groove, or philtrum), and a thin upper lip border.
Researcher has developed new imaging tools with spatial resolution up to a million times higher than clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These include small bore tools suitable for imaging fetal mice that are only 15 mm long.
To quantify facial shape from MRI data, the study team invented powerful new techniques for 3D shape analysis that have already proven successful in objectively defining facial shape changes in humans.
In the study, researchers treated one group of mice with alcohol on their seventh day of pregnancy, a time corresponding to the third week of pregnancy in humans.
A second group of mice was treated just 36 hours later, approximating the fourth week of human pregnancy. The amount of alcohol given was large, "high doses that most women wouldn't achieve unless they were alcoholic and had a tolerance for alcohol.
Near the end of pregnancy, the fetuses were then imaged . These 3D data sets showed individual brain regions, as well as accurate and detailed facial surfaces, from which researchers performed shape analyses.
The team found that the earlier alcohol exposure time elicited the classic FAS facial features, including characteristic abnormalities of the upper lip and eyes. What they observed in foetuses exposed just 36 hours later, however, was a surprise.
These mice exhibited unique and in some cases opposing facial patterns, such as shortened upper lip, a present philtrum, and the brain, instead of appearing too narrow in the front, appeared wide.
The results of our studies show that alcohol can cause more than one pattern of birth defects, and that the type and extent of brain abnormalities—which are the most devastating manifestation of prenatal alcohol exposure—in some cases may be predicted by specific facial features.
And, importantly, alcohol can cause tremendously devastating and permanent damage at a time in development when most women don't recognize that they're pregnant.
The project, could help enhance how doctors diagnose birth defects caused by alcohol exposure in the womb.
The findings of the new study also illustrate how the precise timing of that exposure could determine the specific kinds of defects.
It is known that maternal alcohol use is the leading known and preventable cause of birth defects and mental disability in some countries.
Alcohol's effects can cause a range of cognitive, developmental and behavioural problems that typically become evident during childhood, and last a lifetime.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is at the severe end of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders .
FAS is recognized by a specific pattern of facial features: small eyelid openings, a smooth ridge on the upper lip (absence of a central groove, or philtrum), and a thin upper lip border.
Researcher has developed new imaging tools with spatial resolution up to a million times higher than clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These include small bore tools suitable for imaging fetal mice that are only 15 mm long.
To quantify facial shape from MRI data, the study team invented powerful new techniques for 3D shape analysis that have already proven successful in objectively defining facial shape changes in humans.
In the study, researchers treated one group of mice with alcohol on their seventh day of pregnancy, a time corresponding to the third week of pregnancy in humans.
A second group of mice was treated just 36 hours later, approximating the fourth week of human pregnancy. The amount of alcohol given was large, "high doses that most women wouldn't achieve unless they were alcoholic and had a tolerance for alcohol.
Near the end of pregnancy, the fetuses were then imaged . These 3D data sets showed individual brain regions, as well as accurate and detailed facial surfaces, from which researchers performed shape analyses.
The team found that the earlier alcohol exposure time elicited the classic FAS facial features, including characteristic abnormalities of the upper lip and eyes. What they observed in foetuses exposed just 36 hours later, however, was a surprise.
These mice exhibited unique and in some cases opposing facial patterns, such as shortened upper lip, a present philtrum, and the brain, instead of appearing too narrow in the front, appeared wide.
The results of our studies show that alcohol can cause more than one pattern of birth defects, and that the type and extent of brain abnormalities—which are the most devastating manifestation of prenatal alcohol exposure—in some cases may be predicted by specific facial features.
And, importantly, alcohol can cause tremendously devastating and permanent damage at a time in development when most women don't recognize that they're pregnant.
Labels: alcohol, behavioral, birth defects, brain abnormalities, cognitive development, facial, features, Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), mental disability, pregnant, problems
posted by G S Iyer at 8:25 AM
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