Table 3 Structural MRI studies of individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure relative to controls
Brain region / Findings / ReferencesWhole brain / · ↓ Volume / · Johnson et al. [1]; Swayze et al. [2]; Archibald et al. [3]; Sowell et al. [4];
Sowell et al. [5]; Lebel et al. [6];
Willoughby et al. [7]; Astley et al. [8];
Coles et al. [9]; Nardelli et al. [10];
Zhou et al. [11]; de Zeeuw et al. [12]; Roussotte et al. [13]; Yang et al. [14, 15]; Treit et al [16]; De Guio et al. [17]; Rajaprakash et al. [18]
· ↓ WM volume / · Archibald et al. [3]; Sowell et al. [4];
Sowell et al. [5]; Nardelli et al. [10];
de Zeeuw et al. [12]; Roussotte et al. [13]; Yang et al. [14]; Treit et al. [16];
De Guio et al. [17]
· ↓ GM volume / · Archibald et al. [3]; Sowell et al. [4];
Sowell et al. [5]; de Zeeuw et al. [12]; Nardelli et al. [10]; Zhou et al. [11];
De Guio et al. [17]; Rajaprakash et al. [18]
· Multifocal encephalopathy (1 case with FAS) / · Gabrielli et al. [19]
· Schizencephaly (1 case) / · Spalice et al. [20]
Cerebrum / · ↓ Volume / · Mattson et al. [21-23]; Sowell et al. [24]; Riikonen et al. [25]; Archibald et al. [3]; O’Hare et al. [26]; de Zeeuw et al. [12]
· ↓ Supratentorial/cerebral vault / · Archibald et al. [3]
· ↓ Cortical GM volume / · Roussotte et al. [13]; Treit et al. [16]
· ↑ Cortical thickness / · Fernández-Jaén et al. [27]; Yang et al. [15]
· ↓ Cortical thickness / · Zhou et al. [11]
· ↓ Cortical surface are / · Rajaprakash et al. [18]
· ↓ Cortical complexity / · De Guio et al. [17]
Frontal / · ↓ Volume / · Sowell et al. [28]; Astley et al. [8]
· ↓ WM volume / · Astley et al. [8]
· ↓ GM volume / · Astley et al. [8]; Rajaprakash et al. [18]
· ↓ Volume: caudal middle, superior, rostral medial, pars triangularis, and pars orbitalis / · Coles et al. [9]
· ↑ Cortical thickness in the R frontal regions1,2 and inferior frontal regions3 / · Sowell2 et al. [29]; Yang3 et al. [15];
Fernández-Jaén1 et al. [27]
· ↓ Cortical thickness in the middle frontal lobe and precentral gyrus / · Zhou et al. [11]
· ↓ Surface extent in anterior and orbital regions / · Sowell et al. [28]
· Polymicrogyria in the superior frontal gyrus / · Reinhardt et al. [30]
· ↓ Sulcal index: L central, R prefrontal sulci
↓ Sulcal depth: R precentral sulcus
↑ Sulcal fold opening in central, precentral, prefrontal, and medial frontal sulci / · De Guio et al. [17]
· ↓ Surface area / · Rajaprakash et al. [18]
Parietal / · ↓ Volume / · Archibald et al. [3]; Sowell et al. [28];
Li et al. [31]
· ↓ WM volume and ↓ GM volume / · Archibald et al. [3]
· ↓ GM volume (L hemisphere) / · Rajaprakash et al. [18]
· ↑ Cortical thickness in inferior parietal regions / · Sowell et al. [29]; Yang et al. [15]
· ↓ Cortical thickness in the superior parietal lobe and postcentral gyrus / · Zhou et al. [11]
· Displacement of inferior region / · Sowell et al. [32]
· ↓ Sulcal depth: L intraparietal sulcus
↑ Sulcal fold opening: parietal and intraparietal sulci / · De Guio et al. [17]
· Atypical developmental trajectories in L superior, L inferior, R inferior parietal regions, and the R postcentral gyrus / · Lebel et al. [33]
Temporal / · ↓ Volume / · Sowell et al. [28]
· ↓ WM volume / · Sowell et al. [28]
· ↓ Volume in occipital/temporal region / · Li et al. [31]
· ↓ R inferior temporal gyrus volume / · Chen et al. [34]
· ↓ Fusiform and parahippocampal gyri volume / · Coles et al. [9]
· ↓ GM volume (R hemisphere) / · Rajaprakash et al. [18]
· ↓ GM Density / · Sowell et al. [28];
· ↑ Cortical thickness in bilateral temporal regions1,2 and R middle and superior temporal regions3 / · Sowell2 et al. [29]; Yang3 et al. [15];
Fernández-Jaén1 et al. [27]
· ↓ Cortical thickness in the L lateral and inferior temporal regions / · Zhou et al. [11]
· Displacement of inferior region / · Sowell et al. [32]
· ↓ Asymmetry / · Sowell et al. [32]
· ↑ Sulcal fold opening in lateral temporal and L medial temporal sulci / · De Guio et al. [17]
· Atypical developmental trajectories in the R banks superior and temporal sulcus / · Lebel et al. [33]
· ↓ Surface area
↓ R superior temporal gyrus and R temporal/occipital region surface area / · Rajaprakash et al. [18]
Occipital / · ↓ Volume in occipital/temporal region / · Li et al. [31]
· ↓ Cortical thickness / · Zhou et al. [11]
· ↓ L cuneus and lingual gyrus volume / · Chen et al. [34]
· ↓ Surface area R temporal/occipital region / · Rajaprakash et al. [18]
· Atypical development in the lateral occipital region / · Lebel et al. [33]
Cerebellum / · ↓ Size (volume, area and/or centroid size) / · Mattson et al. [21-23]; O’Hare et al. [26]; Bookstein et al. [35]; de Zeeuw et al. [12]; Cardenas et al. [36]
· ↓ Infratentorial/cerebellar vault / · Archibald et al. [3]; Mattson et al. [21]
· ↓ Cerebellar WM / · Sowell et al. [24]; Archibald et al. [3];
O’Hare et al. [26]
· ↓ Anterior vermal region / · Sowell et al. [24]; O’Hare et al. [26]; Cardenas et al. [36]
· ↓ Posterior-inferior vermal region and displacement of the anterior/posterior-inferior vermal regions / · O’Hare et al. [26]
· ↓ Midsagittal area of vermis and lobules I-V / · Astley et al. [8]
Corpus callosum / · Reported cases with complete or partial agenesis / · Mattson et al. [21]; Riley et al. [37];
Johnson et al. [1]; Swayze et al. [2];
Bhatara et al. [38]; Astley et al. [8];
· ↓ Volume / · Riley et al. [37]
· Disproportionate reductions, most notably in the splenium / · Riley et al. [37]; Sowell et al. [5];
Autti-Rämö et al. [39]
· ↓ Surface area / · Yang et al. [14]
· ↓ Area or length / · Riley et al. [37]; Sowell et al. [5];
Astley et al. [8];
· ↑ Disproportionate region 2 (midsagittal area) / · Autti-Rämö et al. [39]
· ↓ Midsagittal area of genu / · Astley et al. [8]
· Thinning / · Clark et al. [40]; Autti-Rämö et al. [39]
· ↓ Thickness in anterior portions and splenium / · Yang et al. [14]
· High level of variability in shape / · Bookstein et al. [41-43]
· Displacement / · Sowell et al. [5]
Basal ganglia / · ↓ Volume / · Mattson et al. [22, 23]
· ↓ Caudate volume / · Mattson et al. [22, 23]; Archibald et al. [3]; Riikonen et al. [44]; Cortese et al. [45]; Astley et al. [8]; Nardelli et al. [10];
Chen et al. [34]; Roussotte et al. [13];
Treit et al. [16]
· Caudate deformation / · Joseph et al. [46]
· ↓ Globus pallidus volume / · Nardelli et al. [10]; Roussotte et al. [13];
Treit et al [16]
· ↓ Putamen volume / · Riikonen et al. [44]; Astley et al. [8];
Nardelli et al. [10]; Roussotte et al. [13];
Treit et al. [16]
· ↓ Lenticular nucleus volume / · Mattson et al. [23]
Diencephalon / · ↓ Volume / · Mattson et al. [23]
· ↓ Thalamus volume / · Mattson et al. [21]; Nardelli et al. [10]; Roussotte et al. [13]; Treit et al. [16]
· ↓ Ventral diencephalon volume / · Roussotte et al. [13]
· ↓ Area and width / · Autti-Rämö et al. [39]
Hippocampus / · ↓ Volume / · Archibald et al. [3]; Riikonen et al. [44]; Willoughby et al. [7]; Astley et al. [8];
Coles et al. [9]; Nardelli et al. [10];
Rousotte et al. [13]; Treit et al. [16]
· Relative sparing / · Archibald et al. [3]
· Agenesis of hippocampal commissure / · Bhatara et al. [38]
· Hippocampus deformation / · Joseph et al. [46]
Amygdala / · ↓ Volume / · Nardelli et al. [10]; Treit et al. [16]
Cingulate gyrus / · ↓ GM and WM volume / · Bjorkquist et al. [47]
Studies without significant findings in these regions were excluded from this table
L left, R right, GM grey matter, WM, white matter
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