Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 12, No. 8, 856-865,
August 2002
© 2002 Oxford University Press
Regional Brain Shape Abnormalities Persist into Adolescence after Heavy Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, , 1 Center for Behavioral Teratology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA and , 2 Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Departments of Psychiatry and Radiology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
Elizabeth R. Sowell, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, University of California, Los Angeles, 710 Westwood Plaza, Room 4-238, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1769, USA. Email: esowell{at}loni.ucla.edu.
We assessed regional brain shape abnormalities and spatial relationships between brain shape and abnormalities observed in the underlying tissue in children and adolescents prenatally exposed to large quantities of alcohol. We used high resolution, 3-D, structural magnetic resonance imaging data and novel, whole-brain, surface-based image analysis procedures to study 21 subjects with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (8–22 years, mean age 12.6 years) and 21 normally developing control subjects (8–25 years, mean age 13.5 years). Significant brain size and shape abnormalities were observed in the alcohol-exposed subjects in inferior parietal/ perisylvian regions bilaterally, where their brains appeared to be narrower than those of the controls in the same general location where they also had increased gray matter density. Highly significant decreased brain surface extent or reduced brain growth was also observed in the ventral aspects of the frontal lobes most prominent in the left hemisphere. For the first time in this report we have mapped brain morphologic abnormalities to the cortical surface in subjects with prenatal alcohol exposure and have shown that the size and shape of the brain is altered in these individuals. The results imply that brain growth continues to be adversely affected long after the prenatal insult of alcohol exposure to the developing brain and the brain regions most implicated, frontal and inferior parietal/ perisylvian, may be consistent with behavioral deficits characteristic of individuals prenatally exposed to alcohol.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  M. J. Rivkin, P. E. Davis, J. L. Lemaster, H. J. Cabral, S. K. Warfield, R. V. Mulkern, C. D. Robson, R. Rose-Jacobs, and D. A. Frank Volumetric MRI Study of Brain in Children With Intrauterine Exposure to Cocaine, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Marijuana Pediatrics, April 1, 2008; 121(4): 741 - 750. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. R. Sowell, A. Johnson, E. Kan, L. H. Lu, J. D. Van Horn, A. W. Toga, M. J. O'Connor, and S. Y. Bookheimer Mapping White Matter Integrity and Neurobehavioral Correlates in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders J. Neurosci., February 6, 2008; 28(6): 1313 - 1319. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. R. Sowell, S. N. Mattson, E. Kan, P. M. Thompson, E. P. Riley, and A. W. Toga Abnormal Cortical Thickness and Brain Behavior Correlation Patterns in Individuals with Heavy Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Cereb Cortex, January 1, 2008; 18(1): 136 - 144. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. R. Sowell, B. S. Peterson, E. Kan, R. P. Woods, J. Yoshii, R. Bansal, D. Xu, H. Zhu, P. M. Thompson, and A. W. Toga Sex Differences in Cortical Thickness Mapped in 176 Healthy Individuals between 7 and 87 Years of Age Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2007; 17(7): 1550 - 1560. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. BRAZA-BOILS, M. TOMAS, M. P. MARIN, L. MEGIAS, M. SANCHO-TELLO, E. FORNAS, and J. RENAU-PIQUERAS GLYCOSYLATION IS ALTERED BY ETHANOL IN RAT HIPPOCAMPAL CULTURED NEURONS Alcohol Alcohol., September 1, 2006; 41(5): 494 - 504. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. W. Toga, P. M. Thompson, and E. R. Sowell Mapping Brain Maturation Focus, August 1, 2006; 4(3): 378. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. P. Riley and C. L. McGee Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: An Overview with Emphasis on Changes in Brain and Behavior Experimental Biology and Medicine, June 1, 2005; 230(6): 357 - 365. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. R. Goodlett, K. H. Horn, and F. C. Zhou Alcohol Teratogenesis: Mechanisms of Damage and Strategies for Intervention Experimental Biology and Medicine, June 1, 2005; 230(6): 394 - 406. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Ballmaier, A. Kumar, P. M. Thompson, K. L. Narr, H. Lavretsky, L. Estanol, H. DeLuca, and A. W. Toga Localizing Gray Matter Deficits in Late-Onset Depression Using Computational Cortical Pattern Matching Methods Am J Psychiatry, November 1, 2004; 161(11): 2091 - 2099. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. K. S. Voeller Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) J Child Neurol, October 1, 2004; 19(10): 798 - 814. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|