Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan.
ACSENT Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2019 Dec;43(12):2536-2546. doi: 10.1111/acer.14210. Epub 2019 Oct 23.
Rodent studies have consistently shown that prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) impairs performance on the Morris water maze (MWM), a test of spatial navigation. A previous study comparing boys with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) to controls found poorer performance on the virtual water maze (VWM), a human analogue of the MWM. We examined PAE effects on virtual navigation in both sexes using the VWM in a moderately exposed Detroit cohort (N = 104; mean = 19.4 year) and a heavily exposed Cape Town, South African cohort (N = 62; mean = 10.4 year).
The task requires the participant to learn the location of a hidden platform in a virtual pool of water. The set of acquisition trials requires the participant to learn the location of the hidden platform and to return to that location repeatedly. The single-probe trial requires the participant to return to that location without knowing that the platform has been removed.
No effects of FASD diagnostic group or PAE were detected on virtual navigation in the Detroit moderately exposed cohort. By contrast, in the more heavily exposed Cape Town cohort, the FAS/partial FAS (PFAS) group took longer to locate the hidden platform during acquisition than nonsyndromal heavily exposed (HE) and control groups, an effect that persisted even after controlling for IQ. Among boys, both the FAS/PFAS and HE groups performed more poorly than controls during acquisition, and both boys and girls born to women who binge drank performed more poorly than those born to abstainers/light drinkers. Both amount and frequency of PAE were related to poorer performance during the probe trial at 10 years of age.
These data demonstrate deficits in spatial navigation among heavily exposed syndromal boys and girls and in nonsyndromal exposed boys.
啮齿动物研究一致表明，产前酒精暴露（PAE）会损害空间导航任务—— Morris 水迷宫（MWM）的表现。此前一项比较胎儿酒精综合征（FAS）男孩和对照组的研究发现，他们在虚拟水迷宫（VWM）上的表现更差，VWM 是 MWM 的人类模拟。我们使用 VWM 检查了在中度暴露的底特律队列（N=104；平均年龄=19.4 岁）和高度暴露的开普敦、南非队列（N=62；平均年龄=10.4 岁）中两性的 PAE 对虚拟导航的影响。
任务要求参与者学习虚拟水池中隐藏平台的位置。一组获取试验要求参与者学习隐藏平台的位置并反复返回该位置。单次探测试验要求参与者在不知道平台已被移除的情况下返回该位置。
在底特律中度暴露队列中，未发现 FASD 诊断组或 PAE 对虚拟导航有影响。相比之下，在更为高度暴露的开普敦队列中，FAS/部分 FAS（PFAS）组在获取阶段找到隐藏平台的时间比非综合征性高度暴露（HE）和对照组组长，即使在控制智商后，这种影响仍然存在。在男孩中，FAS/PFAS 组和 HE 组在获取阶段的表现均比对照组差，而那些母亲 binge drink 的男孩和女孩的表现比那些母亲 abstainer/light drinker 的差。PAE 的数量和频率都与 10 岁时探测试验的表现较差有关。
这些数据表明，在高度暴露的综合征男孩和女孩以及非综合征性暴露的男孩中存在空间导航缺陷。
