The effect of developmental alcohol exposure on multisensory integration is larger in deeper cortical layers

• Published in: Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2024-12, Vol.121, p.193-198
• Main Authors: Keum, Dongil, Medina, Alexandre E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alcohol; Animals; Child development; Cognition; Cortex (parietal); Drinking behavior; Electrodes; Epidemiology; ethanol; Ethanol - pharmacology; FASD; Female; Females; ferret; Ferrets; Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders - physiopathology; Fetal alcohol syndrome; Health risks; Information processing; Intellectual disabilities; Ketamine; Laboratory animals; Localization; Male; Males; multisensory integration; Neurons; Parietal Lobe - drug effects; perception; Postpartum period; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Senses; Sensory integration; Sensory perception; Somatosensory cortex; tactile; visual; Visual Perception - drug effects; Visual Perception - physiology
• ISSN: 0741-8329; 1873-6823; 1873-6823
• DOI: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2024.02.006

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are one of the most common causes of mental disability in the world. Despite efforts to increase public awareness of the risks of drinking during pregnancy, epidemiological studies indicate a prevalence of 1–6% in all births. There is growing evidence that deficits in sensory processing may contribute to social problems observed in FASD. Multisensory (MS) integration occurs when a combination of inputs from two sensory modalities leads to enhancement or suppression of neuronal firing. MS enhancement is usually linked to processes that facilitate cognition and reaction time, whereas MS suppression has been linked to filtering unwanted sensory information. The rostral portion of the posterior parietal cortex (PPr) of the ferret is an area that shows robust visual-tactile integration and displays both MS enhancement and suppression. Recently, our lab demonstrated that ferrets exposed to alcohol during the “third trimester equivalent” of human gestation show less MS enhancement and more MS suppression in PPr than controls. Here we complement these findings by comparing in vivo electrophysiological recordings from channels located in shallow and deep cortical layers. We observed that while the effects of alcohol (less MS enhancement and more MS suppression) were found in all layers, the magnitude of these effects was more pronounced in putative layers V-VI. These findings extend our knowledge of the sensory deficits of FASD. •Multisensory integration lead to enhancement or suppression of neuronal firing.•A ferret model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders shows less enhancement and more suppression of multisensory responses.•While these effects can be seen in both shallow and deeper layers, they were more pronounced in the latter.