That Neuroscience Guy - Neuroscience Bites-Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

In today's Neuroscience Bite, we discuss the neuroscience behind Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - a disorder that affects children whose mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy. 

Hi, my name is Olof Kregolsen, and I'm a neuroscientist at the University of Victoria. And in my spare time, I'm that neuroscience guy. Welcome to another Neuroscience Bite. So this sort of stems from the last episode that we had where I was talking about things that are bad for the brain, like things that you eat or ingest, and it came, alcohol was brought up again. And I realized I don't think I talked about fetal alcohol syndrome. FAS or FASD is basically something that occurs when a pregnant mother consumes alcohol.

And there's a bit of debate here. Some doctors say you're allowed a little bit of alcohol, some say zero. I would rely on a medical doctor if you're pregnant or planning on being pregnant and follow their advice. But basically if you consume too much alcohol, the child that is born may get fetal alcohol syndrome. the child that is born may get fetal alcohol syndrome.

Now, what that exhibits as once the child is born is basically a disruption of brain function. There are problems with motor skills, movement, problems with communication, problems with social interaction, problems with basic brain function. Typically, there's learning disorders and problems with social interaction, problems with basic brain function. Typically there's learning disorders and problems with memory can extend itself to visual perception, definitely disruption of emotional systems. So consuming alcohol during pregnancy imparts all of this onto the fetus and then the child that is born. Now, why does it occur? There's still not 100% understood, but what's being observed is that if you study what's going

on in the brain as the fetus develops, you basically see that there's a disruption in the way the cells are forming. So some of the cells are forming at an improper rate or they're not forming correctly. And there's actually like a key part of the fetal development is cells sort of basically get aligned and put in the proper place. And if that doesn't happen exactly the right way, then the brain isn't formed exactly the right way. And as a result, there's a disruption in brain function. And there's evidence to support that in the sense that if you take MRI scans of kids that have fetal alcohol syndrome, basically what you see is that their brain structure is different than that from a typically healthy brain for someone at the same age. So fetal alcohol syndrome,

the bottom line is if you're pregnant, don't drink alcohol because you're going to pass it on to your child. At least statistically, it's likely you'll pass it on to your child. to your child. At least statistically, it's likely you'll pass it on to your child. And someone that's not even born yet is going to experience basically brain damage. Anyway, that's a quick little bite about fetal alcohol syndrome. The underlying idea though, is if you consume alcohol when you're pregnant, the brain that's forming in the fetus is disrupted. It's not forming correctly, and that leads to later problems with motor, perceptual, and cognitive function. Don't forget the website, thatneuroscienceguy.com. Of course, if you've got ideas or have questions or thoughts,

you can get us on X or threads at thatneuroscienceguy or email us at thatneuroscienceguy at gmail.com. And of course, the podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Please subscribe if you haven't already. My name is Olof Kregolsen, and I'm That Neuroscience Guy. I'll see you soon for another full episode of the podcast.