FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS florida resource guide

SECTION 2The Effect of AlcoholConsumption on FetalDevelopmentFig. 4 Corpus callosum abnormalitiesnormal corpus callosumMattson, et al., 1994;Mattson & Riley, 1995;Riley et al., 1995The corpus callosum is the connective tissue that unites the left andright hemispheres of the brain. An abnormality in the corpus callosumof the brain is more common in children with FAS (approximately6%) than in the general population (0.1%). While most children withFAS do have a corpus callosum, it may be reduced in size. The top leftimage in Fig 4 is a control or normal brain. The other images are fromchildren with FAS. In the top middle the corpus callosum is present,but is very thin at the posterior section of the brain. In the upper rightthe corpus callosum is essentially missing. The bottom two picturesare from a nine-year-old girl with FAS. She has agenesis (partial orcomplete absence) of the corpus callosum and the large dark area inthe back of her brain above the cerebellum is essentially an emptyspace (Riley et al, 1995).Prenatal alcohol exposure can alsodisrupt the electrophysiology andneurochemical balance of thebrain, so that messages are nottransmitted as efficiently or asaccurately as they should be. Insome children with FASD, thewiring of the brain’s messagesystem is dysfunctional, causingmessage receptors to be faulty.12 FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS florida resource guide