Bimanual coordination in alcohol-exposed children: Role of the corpus callosum

Abstract

The corpus callosum (CC) is one of several brain structures affected in children prenatally exposed to alcohol. This structure plays a major role in coordinating motor activity from opposite sides of the body, and deficits in bimanual coordination have been documented in individuals with agenesis of or damage to the CC, particularly when the task is performed without visual feedback. The Bimanual Coordination Test was used to assess speed and accuracy on a task where both hands must coordinate to guide a cursor through angled pathways providing measures of interhemispheric interaction or the ability of the two hemispheres to coordinate activity via the corpus callosum. Twenty-one children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and 17 non-exposed control children (CON), matched closely in age, sex, and ethnicity were tested. For trials with visual feedback (WV), children with FASD were slower than CON children but were equally accurate. Although statistically significant group differences were not observed on most trials completed without visual feedback (WOV), accuracy of the FASD group on WOV trials was highly variable. Group differences in accuracy on WOV angles approached significance after accounting for performance on the WV angles, and children with FASD were significantly less accurate on an individual angle believed to be particularly sensitive to interhemispheric interaction. These results indicate that children with FASD are slower than CON children but equally accurate on basic visuomotor tasks. However, as task complexity and reliance on interhemispheric interaction increases, children with FASD demonstrate variable and inaccurate performance.

Neuroimaging and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

“…Given the nature of functions ascribed to the cerebellum, structural anomalies may contribute to the functional deficits commonly observed in FASD, such as in balance, bimanual coordination (Roebuck et al, 1998b;Roebuck-Spencer et al, 2004), and attention (Coles et al, 1997(Coles et al, , 2002Lee et al, 2004;Streissguth et al, 1995). In addition, vermal dysmorphology has been shown to be negatively correlated with verbal learning and memory in an alcoholexposed group (O'Hare et al, 2005).…”

“…Many studies suggest a relation between functional deficits and callosal dysmorphology, especially in bimanual coordination (Roebuck-Spencer et al 2004), attention (Coles et al, 1997(Coles et al, , 2002, executive functioning (Bookstein et al, 2002b;Kodituwakku et al, 2001;Mattson et al, 1999), and verbal learning abilities (Sowell et al, 2001b). There is also evidence that certain anomalies are related to specific cognitive deficits.…”

The effects of alcohol in newborns

“…Maier SE, et al (28) Update Goodlett CR,et al (29) Review NEAD (30) Review NOFAS (31) Update Roebuck-Spencer TM, et al (32) Cohort study Mennella JA (33) Review Menella JA, et al (34) Cohort study Floyd RL, et al (35) Update Peadon E, et al (36) Update Gahagan S, et al (37) Cohort study Cook JD (38) Review Peadon E, et al (39) Review Pinheiro SN, et al (40) Cross-sectional study World Health Organization (WHO); National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).…”

“…Functional changes of the corpus callosus, cerebellum, and basal ganglia are seen consistently (3) . Agenesis of the corpus callosus is one of the most frequent anomalies (32) . Structural changes of the CNS that suggest FAS may occur without detectable functional loss (2,3) .…”

Perfil de habilidades de comunicação de dois irmãos com a Síndrome Alcoólica Fetal

“…Há uma possível correlação entre os dismorfi smos faciais e a incidência de alterações da linha média, sugerindo que quanto mais graves forem esses dismorfi smos, maiores são as alterações do Sistema Nervoso Central (SNC), envolvendo a linha média 15 . Alterações estruturais nos lóbulos frontal e parietal -mais especifi camente a região perisilviana -no cerebelo, gânglios basais e no corpo caloso, são as mais comuns de serem encontradas, o que justifi ca a presença de alterações nas habilidades da linguagem, na aprendizagem, nas funções cognitivas e também motoras [16][17][18] , com comprometimento da coordenação bimanual 19 .…”