Nakhid Daphne, McMorris Carly, Sun Hongfu, Gibbard William Benton, Tortorelli Christina, Lebel Catherine
Department of Neuroscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2022 Oct;46(10):1797-1807. doi: 10.1111/acer.14928. Epub 2022 Sep 9.
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can negatively affect brain development thereby increasing the risk of cognitive deficits, behavioral challenges, and mental health problems. Brain iron is important for a number of physiological processes for healthy brain development. Animal studies show that PAE reduced brain iron; however, this has not been investigated in human children with PAE.
We studied 20 children and adolescents with PAE and 44 unexposed children and adolescents aged 7.5 to 15 years. All children underwent quantitative susceptibility mapping and T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans. Susceptibility and volume measurements of the caudate, putamen, pallidum, thalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and nucleus accumbens were extracted using FreeSurfer. ANCOVAs were used to compare volume and susceptibility between groups for each region of interest, controlling for age and gender. For structures where susceptibility differed by group, we also tested for an association between intelligence quotient (IQ) and susceptibility.
There were no significant group differences in susceptibility after multiple comparison correction, though the PAE group had higher susceptibility in the thalamus compared to unexposed participants before correction (p = 0.032, q = 0.230). There was no association between IQ and thalamus susceptibility. The PAE group had significantly lower volume in the bilateral caudate, bilateral pallidum, and left putamen.
These findings suggest susceptibility may be altered in children and adolescents with PAE, though more research is needed. Volume reductions are consistent with previous literature and likely underlie cognitive and behavioral deficits associated with PAE.
孕期酒精暴露（PAE）会对大脑发育产生负面影响，从而增加认知缺陷、行为挑战和心理健康问题的风险。脑铁对健康大脑发育的许多生理过程都很重要。动物研究表明，PAE会降低脑铁含量；然而，尚未在患有PAE的人类儿童中对此进行研究。
我们研究了20名患有PAE的儿童和青少年以及44名未暴露于酒精的7.5至15岁儿童和青少年。所有儿童均接受了定量磁化率成像和T1加权磁共振成像扫描。使用FreeSurfer提取尾状核、壳核、苍白球、丘脑、杏仁核、海马体和伏隔核的磁化率和体积测量值。采用协方差分析比较各感兴趣区域组间的体积和磁化率，并对年龄和性别进行控制。对于磁化率存在组间差异的结构，我们还测试了智商（IQ）与磁化率之间的关联。
经过多重比较校正后，组间磁化率无显著差异，尽管在未校正前，PAE组丘脑的磁化率高于未暴露组参与者（p = 0.032，q = 0.230）。智商与丘脑磁化率之间无关联。PAE组双侧尾状核、双侧苍白球和左侧壳核的体积显著较小。
这些发现表明，患有PAE的儿童和青少年的磁化率可能会发生改变，不过还需要更多的研究。体积减小与先前的文献一致，可能是与PAE相关的认知和行为缺陷的基础。
