Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) consists of pre- and postnatal growth retardation, a characteristic facial dysmorphology, and central nervous system dysfunction. The CNS dysfunction is variable but is often characterized by low IQ scores, attention deficits, hyperactivity, impulsivity, motor impairments, and alterations in reactivity and habituation. Importantly, it is these CNS dysfunctions that have the most impact on the child and the health care system. There is also good evidence to suggest that children without FAS but who were exposed gestationally to large amounts of alcohol also display evidence of a CNS dysfunction. To date, research on these CNS dysfunctions in children with histories of gestational alcohol exposure has primarily focused on isolated tests of cognitive functioning, such as IQ tests. There have only been a few studies evaluating brain functioning using electrophysiological techniques and these studies have almost exclusively assessed infants. Finally, what we know about structural damage to the CNS in humans exposed to alcohol prenatally has resulted from a limited amount of autopsy material from FAS children who have died shortly after birth. There are scant data on the brains of living FAS children using modern imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This proposal utilizes a multidisciplinary approach. Children with and without FAS with known histories of heavy gestational alcohol exposure will be assessed using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, undergo an MRI scan to determine which brain areas may be particularly susceptible to prenatal alcohol exposure and evaluated for electrophysiological abnormalities. Based upon pilot data, special emphasis will be given to two brain areas. the basal ganglia and the corpus callosum. Despite widespread acknowledgment that there is a need for correlational studies between behavioral dysfunction and brain abnormalities, these studies simply do not exist in the human population. By using a multidisciplinary approach and taking advantage of different technologies, we hope to be able to address this problem.
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