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Donald KA, Hendrikse CJ, Roos A, Wedderburn CJ, Subramoney S, Ringshaw JE, Bradford L, Hoffman N, Burd T, Narr KL, Woods RP, Zar HJ, Joshi SH, Stein DJ. Prenatal alcohol exposure and white matter microstructural changes across the first 6-7 years of life: A longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging study of a South African birth cohort. Neuroimage Clin 2024; 41:103572. [PMID: 38309186 PMCID: PMC10847766 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Revised: 01/24/2024] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/05/2024]
Abstract
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can affect brain development in early life, but few studies have investigated the effects of PAE on trajectories of white matter tract maturation in young children. Here we used diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) repeated over three time points, to measure the effects of PAE on patterns of white matter microstructural development during the pre-school years. Participants were drawn from the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS), an ongoing birth cohort study conducted in a peri-urban community in the Western Cape, South Africa. A total of 342 scans acquired from 237 children as neonates (N = 82 scans: 30 PAE; 52 controls) and at ages 2-3 (N = 121 scans: 27 PAE; 94 controls) and 6-7 years (N = 139 scans: 45 PAE; 94 controls) were included. Maternal alcohol use during pregnancy and other antenatal covariates were collected from 28 to 32 weeks' gestation. Linear mixed effects models with restricted maxium likelihood to accommodate missing data were implemented to investigate the effects of PAE on fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) in specific white matter tracts over time, while adjusting for child sex and maternal education. We found significant PAE-by-time effects on trajectories of FA development in the left superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP-L: p = 0.001; survived FDR correction) and right superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF-R: p = 0.046), suggesting altered white matter development among children with PAE. Compared with controls, children with PAE demonstrated a more rapid change in FA in these tracts from the neonatal period to 2-3 years of age, followed by a more tapered trajectory for the period from 2-3 to 6-7 years of age, with these trajectories differing from unexposed control children. Given their supporting roles in various aspects of neurocognitive functioning (i.e., motor regulation, learning, memory, language), altered patterns of maturation in the SCP and SLF may contribute to a spectrum of physical, social, emotional, and cognitive difficulties often experienced by children with PAE. This study highlights the value of repeated early imaging in longitudinal studies of PAE, and focus for early childhood as a critical window of potential susceptibility as well as an opportunity for early intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- K A Donald
- Division of Developmental Paediatrics, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
| | - C J Hendrikse
- Division of Developmental Paediatrics, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - A Roos
- Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - C J Wedderburn
- Division of Developmental Paediatrics, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - S Subramoney
- Division of Developmental Paediatrics, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - J E Ringshaw
- Division of Developmental Paediatrics, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - L Bradford
- Division of Developmental Paediatrics, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - N Hoffman
- Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - T Burd
- Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - K L Narr
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Department of Neurology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - R P Woods
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Department of Neurology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; The Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - H J Zar
- Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - S H Joshi
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Department of Neurology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Department of Bioengineering, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - D J Stein
- Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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Nakhid D, Patel D, McMorris CA, Gibbard WB, Tortorelli C, Pei J, Lebel C. Limbic brain subregions associated with mental health symptoms in youth with and without prenatal alcohol exposure. ALCOHOL, CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH 2023; 47:2033-2044. [PMID: 38226747 DOI: 10.1111/acer.15181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2023] [Revised: 07/20/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can result in reduced brain volume and an increased risk of mental health challenges. Limbic brain structures such as the hippocampus, thalamus, and amygdala often exhibit smaller volumes in youth with PAE, and similar volume reductions are observed in unexposed youth with symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia. However, the role of volume reductions in these brain regions in mental health challenges remains unclear for individuals with PAE. METHODS Thirty-four youth with PAE and 72 unexposed youth aged 7-16 years completed a T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scan. FreeSurfer was used to process and extract volumes for hippocampal subfields, thalamic subnuclei, and amygdalar subnuclei. Depression and anxiety symptoms were measured using the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC-2/3-PRS), the Children's Depression Inventory, and the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children. We tested whether limbic subregion volumes differed between youth with and those without PAE and whether volumes were associated with depression and/or anxiety symptoms, controlling for age and gender. RESULTS Multiple hippocampal and thalamic subregions, but not amygdalar subnuclei, were smaller in individuals with PAE. Multiple group-brain interactions were observed for depression symptoms and subregion volumes. Negative associations between anxiety and limbic subregions were observed across groups. CONCLUSIONS These findings show extensive volume reductions in the hippocampus and thalamus in youth with PAE. PAE also appears to disrupt the association between depression symptoms and limbic subregions in youth, which may have implications for interventions in these individuals. Anxiety symptoms in youth with and without PAE are similarly associated with limbic volumes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daphne Nakhid
- Neuroscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Darpal Patel
- Neuroscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Carly A McMorris
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Werklund School of Education, School and Applied Child Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - W Ben Gibbard
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Christina Tortorelli
- Department of Child Studies and Social Work, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Jacqueline Pei
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Catherine Lebel
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Radiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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