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Prenatal Alcohol (prenatal + alcohol)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences75%

Terms modified by Prenatal Alcohol

  • prenatal alcohol exposure
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    Selected Abstracts

    Evidence of a complex association between dose, pattern and timing of prenatal alcohol exposure and child behaviour problems

    ADDICTION, Issue 1 2010
    Colleen M. O'Leary
    ABSTRACT Background There is a lack of evidence regarding the effect of dose, pattern and timing of prenatal alcohol exposure and behaviour problems in children aged 2 years and older. Methods A 10% random sample of women delivering a live infant in Western Australia (1995,96) were invited to participate in an 8-year longitudinal survey (78% response rate n = 2224); 85% were followed-up at 2 years, 73% at 5 years and 61% at 8 years. Alcohol consumption was classified by combining the overall dose, dose per occasion and frequency to reflect realistic drinking patterns. Longitudinal analysis was conducted using generalized estimating equations (GEE) to investigate the association between child behaviour as measured by the Child Behaviour Checklist at 2, 5 and 8 years of age and prenatal alcohol exposure collected 3 months postpartum for each trimester separately, adjusting for a wide range of confounding factors. Results Low levels of prenatal alcohol were not associated with child behaviour problems. There were increased odds of internalizing behaviour problems following heavy alcohol exposure in the first trimester; anxiety/depression [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.82; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07,7.43] and somatic complaints (aOR 2.74; 95% CI 1.47,5.12) and moderate levels of alcohol exposure increased the odds of anxiety/depression (aOR 2.24; 95% CI 1.16,4.34). Conclusions Prenatal alcohol exposure at moderate and higher levels increased the odds of child behaviour problems with the dose, pattern and timing of exposure affecting the type of behaviour problems expressed. Larger studies with more power are needed to confirm these findings. [source]

    Infant Symbolic Play as an Early Indicator of Fetal Alcohol-Related Deficit

    INFANCY, Issue 6 2010
    Christopher D. Molteno
    Infant symbolic play was examined in relation to prenatal alcohol exposure and socioenvironmental background and to predict which infants met criteria for fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) at 5 years. A total of 107 Cape-Colored, South African infants born to heavy drinking mothers and abstainers/light drinkers were recruited prenatally. Complexity of play, sociodemographic and psychological correlates of maternal alcohol use, and quality of parenting were assessed at 13 months, and intelligence quotient and FAS diagnosis at 5 years. The effect of drinking on spontaneous play was not significant after control for social environment. In contrast, prenatal alcohol and quality of parenting related independently to elicited play. Elicited play predicted 5-year Digit Span and was poorer in infants subsequently diagnosed with FAS/partial FAS and in nonsyndromal heavily exposed infants, compared with abstainers/light drinkers. Thus, symbolic play may provide an early indicator of risk for alcohol-related deficits. The independent effects of prenatal alcohol and quality of parenting suggest that infants whose symbolic play is adversely affected by alcohol exposure may benefit from stimulation from a responsive caregiver. [source]

    Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Chronic Mild Stress Differentially Alter Depressive- and Anxiety-Like Behaviors in Male and Female Offspring

    ALCOHOLISM, Issue 4 2010
    Kim G. C. Hellemans
    Background:, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is associated with numerous neurobehavioral alterations, as well as disabilities in a number of domains, including a high incidence of depression and anxiety disorders. Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) also alters hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function, resulting in increased responsiveness to stressors and HPA dysregulation in adulthood. Interestingly, data suggest that pre-existing HPA abnormalities may be a major contributory factor to some forms of depression, particularly when an individual is exposed to stressors later in life. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to stressors in adulthood may unmask an increased vulnerability to depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in PAE animals. Methods:, Male and female offspring from prenatal alcohol (PAE), pair-fed (PF), and ad libitum-fed control (C) treatment groups were tested in adulthood. Animals were exposed to 10 consecutive days of chronic mild stress (CMS), and assessed in a battery of well-validated tasks sensitive to differences in depressive- and/or anxiety-like behaviors. Results:, We report here that the combination of PAE and CMS in adulthood increases depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in a sexually dimorphic manner. PAE males showed impaired hedonic responsivity (sucrose contrast test), locomotor hyperactivity (open field), and alterations in affiliative and nonaffiliative social behaviors (social interaction test) compared to control males. By contrast, PAE and, to a lesser extent, PF, females showed greater levels of "behavioral despair" in the forced swim test, and PAE females showed altered behavior in the final 5 minutes of the social interaction test compared to control females. Conclusions:, These data support the possibility that stress may be a mediating or contributing factor in the psychopathologies reported in FASD populations. [source]

    Prenatal alcohol exposure alters phosphorylation and glycosylation of proteins in rat offspring liver

    PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 3 2010
    Bourlaye Fofana
    Abstract To gain more insights into the translational and PTM that occur in rat offspring exposed to alcohol in utero, 2-D PAGE with total, phospho- and glycoprotein staining and MALDI-MS/MS and database searching were conducted. The results, based on fold-change expression, revealed a down-regulation of total protein expression by prenatal alcohol exposure in 7-day-old and 3-month-old rats. There was an up-regulation of protein phosphorylation but a down-regulation of glycosylation by prenatal alcohol exposure in both age groups. Of 31 protein spots examined per group, differentially expressed proteins were identified as ferritin light chain, aldo-keto reductase, tumor rejection antigen gp96, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase, and ,-actin. Increased phosphorylation was observed in proteins such as calmodulin, gluthatione S-transferase, glucose regulated protein 58, ,-enolase, eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 ,-2, riboprotein large P2, agmatinase, ornithine carbamoyltransferase, quinolinate phosphoribosyltransferase, formimidoyltransferase cyclodeaminase, and actin. In addition, glycosylation of adenosine kinase, adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase, and 3-hydroxyanthranilate dioxygenase was reduced. Pathways affected by these protein alterations include cell signaling, cellular stress, protein synthesis, cytoskeleton, as well as glucose, aminoacid, adenosine and energy metabolism. The activity of the gluconeogenic enzyme fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase was elevated by prenatal alcohol. The observations may have important physiological implications. [source]