Just one small glass of wine. It may not seem like much alcohol, but expectant moms should beware. Research done in Alberta points to new dangers from drinking while pregnant.
Funded by the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR), Dr. Robert Sutherland’s work at the University of Lethbridge shows evidence of changes in the brain caused by prenatal (when the fetus is still in the womb) exposure to alcohol. His work adds more support to the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission’s recommendation that pregnant women abstain from alcohol.
Dr. Sutherland studies prenatal alcohol exposure in rats and humans. His work on rats has already shown how the parts of the fetal brain involving memory and learning are permanently blunted by relatively low daily doses of alcohol.
Now Dr. Sutherland is investigating whether the same brain changes and behavioural effects can be seen in humans. Preliminary results indicate that prenatal exposure to alcohol changes the number of neurons (nerve cells) in the brain. These changes interfere with both memory and the way electrical signals are transmitted in the brain.
“At this point we don’t know whether the changes in neurons are a direct effect of alcohol exposure or an indirect effect caused by the body trying to compensate for some other damage,” says Dr. Sutherland.
“What is clear from our research is that prenatal alcohol exposure has lifelong effects. It’s not a developmental delay. Prenatal alcohol exposure is an injury.”
Could there be a cure? Perhaps, because better understanding of the damage done to the brain may lead to ways to repair it. But Dr. Sutherland emphasizes that at the moment scientists do not even know precisely what the brain defect is.