The impact of prenatal alcohol exposure on frontal cortex development in utero

Radiological studies of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in humans and animal models: An updated comprehensive review

“…Alcohol-exposed fetuses showed smaller frontal cortex when scanned between the second and the third trimester [134]. Second trimester examination showed shorter caval-calvarial distance and frontothalamic distance, with the latter persisting into third trimester.…”

“…Two studies that used ultrasound imaging on infants with a confirmed history of PAE observed malformation of the corpus callosum [132], and abnormality of the splenium [133], which is in good agreement with the MRI studies. Three other studies used ultrasound to monitor alcohol-exposed fetal development [134][135][136].…”

Embryonic Cerebral Cortical Progenitors Are Resistant to Apoptosis, but Increase Expression of Suicide Receptor DISC‐Complex Genes and Suppress Autophagy Following Ethanol Exposure

“…The developing cortex is an important target of ethanol-induced damage. For example, it has been demonstrated that prenatal ethanol exposure results in a disproportionate reduction in frontal cortex size in the absence of global microcephaly (Wass et al, 2001). …”

Executive Functioning in Preschool-Age Children Prenatally Exposed to Alcohol, Cocaine, and Marijuana

“…Persistent effects on the frontal-subcortical circuit of human infants have been proposed as one of the possible sequelae of prenatal exposure to cocaine (Mayes, 1999), alcohol (Kaemingk and Paquette, 1999), and marijuana (Fried and Smith, 2001). There is neurological evidence of the frontal-subcortical circuit's vulnerability to prenatal exposure to these substances: cocaine (Frick and Dow-Edwards, 1995;Friedman et al, 1996;Spear, 1995), alcohol (Mihalick et al, 2001;Sowell et al, 2002;Wass et al, 2001), and, less directly, marijuana (Glass et al, 1997).…”