Studies in mice have shown that the alcohol consumed by the mother over a period corresponding to humans 3-6. week of pregnancy causes changes in the functioning of genes responsible for brain development in the fetus. The information is provided by PLOS ONE.
Researchers from the University of Helsinki set out to investigate how alcohol consumed by a mother who has not yet realized she is pregnant affects the epigenetic changes in the fetus (i.e. changes in gene expression, but not in gene sequence).
The focus was on the hippocampus, the brain structure responsible for memory and learning. The hippocampus is particularly sensitive to the effects of alcohol, which was confirmed during observation. Early fetal exposure to alcohol caused epigenetic changes in some genes in the hippocampus of newborn mice, and later, as they became adult, changes were seen in both the hippocampus and olfactory bulbs and in the cerebral ventricles. Changes in gene expression were also noted in the bone marrow and in the olfactory epithelium.
The administration of alcohol to female mice shortly after conception caused symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome in their offspring, such as slow development, cranial abnormalities, and hyperactivity.
This suggests that alcohol causes permanent changes in the first cells of the embryo early in pregnancy. Prenatal exposure to alcohol harms your baby in many ways, including increases the risk of mental retardation and birth defects, emphasizes the author of the analysis, Dr. Nina Kaminen-Ahola, adding that the mechanisms by which alcohol affects the fetus are not yet well known, and diagnosing the damage that is a direct result of alcohol in newborns is still a challenge.