Cortical miscommunication after prenatal exposure to alcohol
permalinkExperimental Brain Research - 2016-11-01Lewis S, Vydrova R, Leuthold A, Georgopoulos AP10.1007/s00221-016-4732-3
We report on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on resting-state brain activity as measured by Magnetoencephalography
. We studied 37 subjects diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in one of three categories: fetal alcohol syndrome, partial fetal alcohol syndrome, and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder. For each subject, the Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
A noninvasive technique that detects magnetic fields above the surface of the head produced by postsynaptic potentials in the brain.MEG
signal was recorded for 60 s during rest while subjects lay supine. Using time series analysis, we calculated the Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
A noninvasive technique that detects magnetic fields above the surface of the head produced by postsynaptic potentials in the brain.Synchronous Neural Interactions
for all pair-wise combinations of 248 Synchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)
Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG.MEG
sensors resulting in 30,628 partial correlations for each subject. We found significant differences from control subjects in 6.19 % of the partial zero-lag crosscorrelations (Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
A noninvasive technique that detects magnetic fields above the surface of the head produced by postsynaptic potentials in the brain.SNI
; Georgopoulos et al. in J Neural Eng 4:349-355, 2007), with these differences localized in the right posterior frontal, right parietal, and left parietal/posterior frontal regions. These results show that Synchronous Neural Interactions (SNI)
Zero-lag partial correlations in pairs of MEG time series and denote the strength and polarity (positive or negative) of neuronal interactions. Anomalies in SNIs as assessed by MEG differentiate psychiatric disorders from healthy brain functioning and can discriminate among various brain diseases. From this research, a highly distinctive, unique PTSD SNI signature characterized by miscommunication of temporal and parietal and/or parieto-occipital right hemispheric areas with other brain areas has emerged. These findings, in addition to the growing research applying MEG to other psychiatric disorders, highlight the utility of MEG in identifying biomarkers of disease and underscore the potential for broader clinical applications of MEG.MEG
can detect functional brain differences in the individuals affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol. Furthermore, these differences may serve as a biomarker for future studies linking symptoms and signs to specific brain areas. This may lead to new insights into the neuropathology of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.