Project description:Exposure to alcohol during early embryonic or fetal development has been linked with a variety of adverse outcomes, the most common of which are structural and functional abnormalities of the central nervous system [1]. Behavioural and cognitive deficits reported in individuals exposed to alcohol in utero include intellectual impairment, learning and memory difficulties, diminished executive functioning, attention problems, poor motor function and hyperactivity [2]. The economic and social costs of these outcomes are substantial and profound [3], [4]. Improvement of neurobehavioural outcomes following prenatal alcohol exposure requires greater understanding of the mechanisms of alcohol-induced damage to the brain. Here we use a mouse model of relatively moderate ethanol exposure early in pregnancy and profile gene expression in the hippocampus and caudate putamen of adult male offspring. The effects of offspring sex and age on ethanol-sensitive hippocampal gene expression were also examined. All array data are available at the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) repository under accession number GSE87736.
Project description:Exposure to alcohol during early embryonic or fetal development has been linked with a variety of adverse outcomes, the most common of which are structural and functional abnormalities of the central nervous system. Behavioral and cognitive deficits reported in individuals exposed to alcohol in utero include intellectual impairment, learning and memory difficulties, diminished executive functioning, attention problems, poor motor function and hyperactivity. The economic and social costs of these outcomes are substantial and profound. Improvement of neurobehavioural outcomes following prenatal alcohol exposure requires greater understanding of the mechanisms of alcohol-induced damage to the brain. Here we use a mouse model of relatively moderate ethanol exposure early in pregnancy and profile gene expression in the hippocampus and caudate putamen of adult male offspring. The effects of offspring sex and age on ethanol-sensitive hippocampal gene expression were also examined.
Project description:Exposure to alcohol during early embryonic or fetal development has been linked with a variety of adverse outcomes, the most common of which are structural and functional abnormalities of the central nervous system. Behavioral and cognitive deficits reported in individuals exposed to alcohol in utero include intellectual impairment, learning and memory difficulties, diminished executive functioning, attention problems, poor motor function and hyperactivity. The economic and social costs of these outcomes are substantial and profound. Improvement of neurobehavioural outcomes following prenatal alcohol exposure requires greater understanding of the mechanisms of alcohol-induced damage to the brain. Here we use a mouse model of relatively moderate ethanol exposure early in pregnancy and profile gene expression in the hippocampus and caudate putamen of adult male offspring. The effects of offspring sex and age on ethanol-sensitive hippocampal gene expression were also examined.
Project description:Exposure to alcohol during early embryonic or fetal development has been linked with a variety of adverse outcomes, the most common of which are structural and functional abnormalities of the central nervous system. Behavioral and cognitive deficits reported in individuals exposed to alcohol in utero include intellectual impairment, learning and memory difficulties, diminished executive functioning, attention problems, poor motor function and hyperactivity. The economic and social costs of these outcomes are substantial and profound. Improvement of neurobehavioural outcomes following prenatal alcohol exposure requires greater understanding of the mechanisms of alcohol-induced damage to the brain. Here we use a mouse model of relatively moderate ethanol exposure early in pregnancy and profile gene expression in the hippocampus and caudate putamen of adult male offspring. The effects of offspring sex and age on ethanol-sensitive hippocampal gene expression were also examined.
Project description:The in utero environment is a critical determinant of the immediate and future health of the developing fetus. Two of the most commonly used drugs during pregnancy are alcohol and nicotine. While prolonged gestational exposure to alcohol or nicotine has been associated with a range of adverse outcomes in the offspring, the consequences of exposure during early gestation only are less well understood. Here, we use mouse models of relatively moderate early gestational ethanol or nicotine exposure to profile gene expression in whole male embryos at 9.5 days post coitum using an Illumina microarray.