The overarching goal of this proposed Imaging Core is to understand better the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the structure and function of the developing brain by facilitating the use of advanced brain image processing tools by CIFASD members. One of the key limitations in understanding the role of severe prenatal alcohol exposure on the developing brain has been the limited number of subjects studied by any single research group. It is our intent to use this opportunity to pool structural brain imaging data across multiple research sites by standardizing the imaging protocols used to acquire image data, and standardizing image analysis tools used to compare individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) to controls. We will use our expertise to provide members of the Consortium with access to relatively simple automated image analysis tools that they can use in their laboratories to assess the shape and size of the corpus callosum (CC) and other regularly shaped brain structures. More specialized tools will be developed to assess differences in brain morphology in cortical and subcortical structures and to combine functional and structural MRI data for within-project functional-structural MRI studies. Specifically, our efforts will be directed towards: 1) the standardization of image acquisition protocols and validation of methods for controlling scanner specific geometric distortion through the use of human and mechanical phantom studies; 2) the adaptation of automated image analysis tools for distribution to CIFASD members; 3) adaptation and creation of more sophisticated tools for assessment of brain shape and tissue distribution abnormalities in cortical and subcortical regions, and the refinement of tools designed to facilitate the combination of functional and structural brain imaging data; and 4) the assessment of relationships between brain image data, and data collected by the other CIFASD projects and cores. Consortium members are proposing to collect either functional or structural (or both) brain imaging data from over 470 children and adolescents with FASD and 310 control subjects. The strategies and methods developed within the Imaging Core will for the first time allow the direct comparison of data collected at various sites, dramatically increasing our power to potentially outline diagnostic criteria from brain imaging data, and ultimately to help develop intervention and treatment approaches for FASD.
