Chapter category: Signal Transduction
Programming Effects of Moderate and Binge Alcohol Consumption
Early Life Origins of Health and Disease
Edited by: E. Marelyn Wintour and Julie OwensISBN: 0-387-28715-9
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Chapter authors:
Jeff Schwartz and Luke C. Carey
Alcohol is a well known teratogen. Heavy, sustained consumption of alcohol by pregnant women is associated with the constellation of birth defects and symptoms known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Similarly, exposure to high concentrations of alcohol for extended periods in animal models of FAS reproduces the teratogenic effects. In contrast, far less is known regarding the more subtle effects on offspring of lesser maternal ethanol ingestion. The most widely studied permanent consequence of prenatal alcohol exposure is impaired development of the nervous system, leading to changes in brain chemistry, neurobiology and behaviour. This is reflected in the mental retardation and neurological deficits associated with FAS. Because this is more accurately described as mimicking a teratogenic outcome present at birth and is considered to be the result of high and sustained exposure to alcohol in humans, it will not be specifically covered in this essay. There are numerous excellent recent reviews on this subject.1 Rather, this chapter will concentrate on reviewing the body of literature concerning the more subtle effects of prenatal alcohol exposure, often not apparent at birth, and impacting on the performance and regulation of various organ systems. These findings have been obtained in animal, rather than human, experiments and observations. In many ways the phenotypic changes resemble those associated with certain types of fetal programming as caused by nutrient or oxygen restriction (see other chapters in this volume), including small weight at birth and permanent alterations to the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, glucose metabolism, and possibly cardiovascular regulation.2 In addition to expanding our knowledge of early physiological programming from the perspective of a novel perturbation in nonhuman species, these observations on the effects of prenatal alcohol identify possible pathophysiological consequences of human alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Additional chapters from this book:
Critical Experiments to Determine if Early Nutritional Influences on Epigenetic Mechanisms Cause Metabolic Imprinting in Humans
Robert A. Waterland
Metabolic imprinting occurs when nutritional influences during critical periods of development cause specific metabolic adaptations that persist to adulthood. Epigenetic mechanisms, which regulate t...
Adaptive Responses of Early Embryos to their Microenvironment and Consequences for Post-Implantation Development
Jeremy Thompson*, Michelle Lane and Sarah Robertson
Early embryos are adaptive to the environment they encounter during development and this facilitates embryo resilience to environmental insults. However, it is clear from findings in nonhuman specie...
Prenatal Programming of Human Motor Function
Julia B. Pitcher,* David J. Henderson-Smart and Jeffrey S. Robinson
In a world in which athletic skill is often valued more highly than intellectual prowess, we know surprisingly little about the development of the human motor system. Even less is known about how an...
Hypoxia, Fetal Growth and Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
Dino A. Giussani
The compelling evidence linking small size at birth with later cardiovascular disease, ` obtained from epidemiological studies of human populations of more than a dozen countries,1 has clearly ...
The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease: The Breadth and Importance of the Concept
Peter D. Gluckman and Mark A. Hanson
The concept of a ‘fetal origins of adult disease’ (FOAD) or ‘fetal programming’ was developed by Barker and colleagues to describe the relationship between birth size and subsequent risks of...
Perinatal Programming of Adult Metabolic Homeostasis: Lessons From Experimental Studies
Kathryn L. Gatford, Miles J. De Blasio, Miodrag Dodic, Dane M. Horton
Poor fetal growth and associated neonatal catch-up growth are independent risk factors for metabolic disease in later life. Epidemiological studies in humans consistently show associations of small ...
Developmental Programming of Cardiovascular Dysfunction
Lucilla Poston, James A. Armitage and Paul D. Taylor
Population based studies of developmental programming of adulthood cardiovascular disease have implied associations between intrauterine growth restriction and a range of adulthood indices of cardio...
Manipulation of the Maternal Diet in Rat Pregnancy: Different Approaches to the Demonstration of the Programming Principle
Simon C. Langley-Evans, Leanne Bellinger, Dean Sculley, Alison Langley-Evans, Sarah McMullen
Animal studies of nutritional programming confirm the biological principle underpin ning the “Barker Hypothesis”. Most studies have modelled the hypothesis in its sim plest form, seeking to test...
Programming Effects of Excess Glucocorticoid Exposure in Late Gestation
Timothy J.M. Moss and Deborah M. Sloboda
Glucocorticoids are powerful hormones that play a crucial role in normal maturation of fetal organs in preparation for life outside the womb. However, exposure of the fetus to elevated levels of glu...
Studies of Twins: What Can They Tell Us About the Developmental Origins of Adult Health and Disease?
Ruth Morley, Terence Dwyer and John B. Carlin
There is still limited understanding of the causal pathways underlying the observed association between exposures during fetal life and later health and disease in humans. Without better understandi...
Programming Effects of Moderate and Binge Alcohol Consumption
Jeff Schwartz and Luke C. Carey
Alcohol is a well known teratogen. Heavy, sustained consumption of alcohol by pregnant women is associated with the constellation of birth defects and symptoms known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)....
Programming of Obesity–Experimental Evidence
Bernhard H. Breier, Stefan O. Krechowec and Mark H. Vickers
Obesity and related metabolic disorders are prevalent health issues in modern society and are commonly attributed to lifestyle and dietary factors. However, the mecha nisms by which environmental fa...
Programming Hypertension—Animal Models Causes and Mechanisms
Kate M. Denton, Michelle M. Kett and Miodrag Dodic
Hypertension can be programmed by experimental manipulation of the intrauterine environment. Studies to date suggest that, at least in some models, common pathways such as glucocorticoids or the ren...
Vitamin D in Pregnany and Offspring Health
Marianne Tare, Helena C Parkington and Ruth Morley
The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency is increasing in western societies. The major source of vitamin D in healthy individuals of normal mobility is through the action of sunlight on the skin, b...
The Fetal Origins of Adult Mental Illness
Laura Bennet and Alistair J. Gunn
"I am a crooked, twisted piece of humanity. The sooner I die the better. God will relieve me from my sufferings, as I really cannot stand it." Voices of the mad: Patients letters from the Royal Edin...
Kidney Development and Fetal Programming
Karen M. Moritz and Luise A. Cullen-McEwen
Alteration in the normal development of the kidney is likely to be a major contributing factor to programming of adult disease. Renal disease is reaching epidemic proportions in some sectors of the ...
Developmental Origins of Cardiovascular Disease, Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity in Humans
Caroline H.D. Fall
Fetal growth restriction and low weight gain in infancy are associated with an increased risk of adult cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and the Metabolic Syndrome. The fetal origins of adult ...
