Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Is Associated With Adverse Cognitive Effects and Distinct Whole-Genome DNA Methylation Patterns in Primary School Children.

ABSTRACT: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is known to elicit a broad range of systemic effects, including neurophysiological alterations that result in adverse behavioral and cognitive outcomes. However, molecular pathways underlying these long-term intrauterine effects remain to be investigated. Here, we tested a hypothesis that PAE may lead to epigenetic alterations to the DNA resulting in attentional and cognitive alterations of the children. We report the results of the study that included 156 primary school children of the Franconian Cognition and Emotion Studies (FRANCES) cohort which were tested for an objective marker of PAE, ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in meconium at birth. Thirty-two newborns were found to be exposed to alcohol with EtG values above 30 ng/g (EtG+). Previously we described PAE

SUBMITTER: Frey S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6028559 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature