A physiological parallelism, or even a causal effect relationship, can be deducted from the analysis of the main characteristics of the “Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders” (ARND), derived from prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), and the behavioral performance in the Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These two clinically distinct disease entities, exhibits many common features. They affect neurological shared pathways, and also related neurotransmitter systems. We briefly review here these parallelisms, with their common and uncommon characteristics, and with an emphasis in the subjacent molecular mechanisms of the behavioral manifestations, that lead us to propose that PAE in rats can be considered as a suitable model for the study of ADHD.

Se realizaron 18 exploraciones a la vertiente norte del cerro El Cípil, ubicado al oeste del municipio de Casimiro Castillo, en la costa sur del estado de Jalisco, México, durante los meses de junio a octubre de 2006 y 2007. Se recolectaron 441 especímenes de hongos, de los que se determinaron 151 que corresponden con 101 especies, las cuales pertenecen a Ascomycota (12) y Basidiomycota (87) del reino Fungi y a Myxogastrea (2) del reino Protozoa. Aun cuando los resultados son preliminares, se registran 15 especies por primera vez para el estado de Jalisco, para las cuales se proporciona una breve descripción e ilustraciones de sus principales caracteres microscópicos. Se analiza la distribución de las especies por comunidades vegetales y sustrato, además de informar de su importancia para el hombre.

Maternal ethanol consumption during pregnancy is one of the main causes of Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) produces several adverse manifestations. Even low or moderate intake has been associated with long-lasting behavioral and cognitive impairment in offspring. In this study we examined the gene expression profile in the rat nucleus accumbens using microarrays, comparing animals exposed prenatally to ethanol and controls. Microarray gene expression showed an overall downward regulatory effect of PAE. Gene cluster analysis reveals that the gene groups most affected are related to transcription regulation, transcription factors and homeobox genes. We focus on the expression of the C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 16 (Cxcl16) which was differentially expressed. There is a significant reduction in the expression of this chemokine throughout the brain under PAE conditions, evidenced here by quantitative polymerase chain reaction qPCR and immunohistochemistry. Chemokines are involved in neuroprotection and implicated in alcohol-induced brain damage and neuroinflammation in the developing central nervous system (CNS), therefore, the significance of the overall decrease in Cxcl16 expression in the brain as a consequence of PAE may reflect a reduced ability in neuroprotection against subsequent conditions, such as excitotoxic damage, inflammatory processes or even hypoxic-ischemic insult.