Corpus Callosum Shape and Neuropsychological Deficits in Adult Males with Heavy Fetal Alcohol Exposure

Evidence of Rapid Ongoing Brain Development Beyond 2 Years of Age Detected by Fiber Tracking

“…Callosal fibers are important for motor and sensory integration, attention, memory, and general cognitive functioning. [10][11][12] The time course of maturation until 5 years of age as observed in our study is concordant with major psychological maturation processes: The gCC is mainly related to important interhemispheric association fibers that play a major role in several of these processes. Any disturbance or anomalies in the CC can result in certain neurologic disorders.…”

“…Any disturbance could lead to clinical impairment. [10][11][12] Despite the great interest in the development and function of interhemispheric connections, little is known about the development and organization of the tract itself. [13][14][15][16][17] Previous studies, including those of children of different age ranges, found age-dependent fractional anisotropy (FA) values.…”

Tissue plasminogen activator is required for the development of fetal alcohol syndrome in mice

“…Our data identify tPA as a key regulator of the neurotoxic effects of alcohol in a murine model of FAS. Imaging studies of humans with FAS show microencephaly (28), reductions in cortical gray matter (29), decreased basal ganglia size (30), and abnormal development or absence of the corpus callosum (31). In our experiments, WT mice showed >100-fold increase in FJB staining in the thalamus and cortex after ethanol exposure.…”

Radiological studies of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in humans and animal models: An updated comprehensive review

“…The corpus callosum, the biggest white matter structure in the brain, which connects the two cerebral hemispheres, has been examined in many PAE investigations. Following PAE, the corpus callosum was found to be displaced in the inferior-superior and anterior-posterior directions [59]; decreased in size [23; 31;45;47;48;52;58;60-63] or completely absent [45] (Fig.4), but also thickened [61]. Discrete regions of the corpus callosum appeared to be affected differentially.…”