4.5 Article

Effects of developmental alcohol exposure on cortical multisensory integration

Journal

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 57, Issue 5, Pages 784-795

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15907

Keywords

ferret; fetal alcohol spectrum disorders; fetal alcohol syndrome; sensory integration

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Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a common cause of mental disabilities, affecting 1%-6% of all births. This study found that alcohol exposure during the last months of human gestation may disrupt the development of multisensory integration (MSI), which could be the underlying cause of sensory problems in FASD. The findings suggest that alcohol exposure during pregnancy can have long-term effects on sensory development.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is one of the most common causes of mental disabilities in the world with a prevalence of 1%-6% of all births. Sensory processing deficits and cognitive problems are a major feature in this condition. Because developmental alcohol exposure can impair neuronal plasticity, and neuronal plasticity is crucial for the establishment of neuronal circuits in sensory areas, we predicted that exposure to alcohol during the third trimester equivalent of human gestation would disrupt the development of multisensory integration (MSI) in the rostral portion of the posterior parietal cortex (PPr), an integrative visual-tactile area. We conducted in vivo electrophysiology in 17 ferrets from four groups (saline/alcohol; infancy/adolescence). A total of 1157 neurons were recorded after visual, tactile and combined visual-tactile stimulation. A multisensory (MS) enhancement or suppression is characterized by a significantly increased or decreased number of elicited spikes after combined visual-tactile stimulation compared to the strongest unimodal (visual or tactile) response. At the neuronal level, those in infant animals were more prone to show MS suppression whereas adolescents were more prone to show MS enhancement. Although alcohol-treated animals showed similar developmental changes between infancy and adolescence, they always 'lagged behind' controls showing more MS suppression and less enhancement. Our findings suggest that alcohol exposure during the last months of human gestation would stunt the development of MSI, which could underlie sensory problems seen in FASD.

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