Caudate asymmetry: A neurobiological marker of moderate prenatal alcohol exposure in young adults

• Published in: Neurotoxicology and teratology 2010-11, Vol.32 (6), p.589-594
• Main Authors: Willford, Jennifer, Day, Richard, Aizenstein, Howard, Day, Nancy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Alcohol Drinking - adverse effects; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Analysis of Variance; Asymmetry; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Cannabis; Caudate nucleus; Caudate Nucleus - embryology; Caudate Nucleus - growth & development; Caudate Nucleus - pathology; Data processing; Development projects; Dose-response effects; Drug addictions; Emergency; Ethanol; Female; Functional Laterality - physiology; Handedness; Humans; Linear Models; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Marijuana Smoking - adverse effects; Medical Education; Medical sciences; Morphometry; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Trimesters; Prenatal alcohol exposure; Prenatal experience; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - chemically induced; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - pathology; Prenatal marijuana exposure; Prenatal tobacco exposure; Progeny; Smoking - adverse effects; Structural MRI; Tobacco; Tobacco, tobacco smoking; Toxicology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0892-0362; 1872-9738
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ntt.2010.06.012

Abstract This study identified structural changes in the caudate nucleus in offspring of mothers who drank moderate levels of alcohol during pregnancy. In addition, the effect of duration of alcohol use during pregnancy was assessed. Young adults were recruited from the Maternal Health Practices and Child Development Project. Three groups were evaluated: prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) during all three trimesters (3T), PAE during the first trimester only (1T), and controls with no PAE (0T). Magnetic resonance images were processed using the automated labeling pathway technique. Volume was measured as the number (gray + white) and relative percentage (caudate count/whole brain count × 100) of voxels. Asymmetry was calculated by subtracting the caudate volume on the left from the right and dividing by the total (L − R/L + R). Data analyses controlled for gender, handedness, and prenatal tobacco and marijuana exposures. There were no significant differences between the groups for whole brain, left, or right volumes. There was a dose–response effect across the three exposure groups both in terms of magnitude and direction of asymmetry. In the 3T group, the left caudate was larger relative to the right caudate compared to the 0T group. The average magnitude of caudate asymmetry for the 1T group was intermediate between the 0T and 3T groups. Subtle anatomical changes in the caudate are detected at the moderate end of the spectrum of prenatal alcohol exposure.