Scientists have found a way to study the genetic effects of fetal alcohol syndrome by using fruit flies, reports a study published in today’s issue (February 8) of Disease Models & Mechanisms.
FAS can occur in the fetus when the mother drinks during pregnancy. Although as many as three out of every 1000 children are born with FAS, little is known about how or why alcohol effects fetal development, causing symptoms like behaviour problems, growth defects and abnormal facial features.
Using fruit flies, researchers at the University of California San Francisco were able to study the syndrome on a deeper genetic and biological level that would be unethical in to study in human fetuses. They discovered that the problems seemed to be caused, at least in part, in the way alcohol affected the function of insulin in the developing brain.
They also discovered that while the volume of alcohol consumed during pregnancy played an expected role, the timing of consumption was also important – exposure was more detrimental to the fetus during the later stages of pregnancy, as the brain was beginning to develop.
"We can’t truly draw analogies [between fruit flies and humans] before we know exactly which biological processes are being affected at these different stages of development. But it’s very clear that exposure to alcohol early, during a rapid phase of growth, has different effects than later, when the brain is getting put together," explained Ulrike Heberlein, lead author of the study.