# Longitudinal mapping of brain-face-behavior trajectories in prenatal alcohol exposure from birth through adolescence

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2024 · $521,003

## Abstract

Maternal substance use disorders are a substantial public health concern and the neurological consequences
of prenatal exposure are a major threat to the long-term health of offspring. Globally, prevalence of Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is between 2-7 and 20-50 per 1000,
respectively. By contrast, in certain high-risk communities in South Africa, prevalence is reported to be as high
as 63 and 155 per 1000, respectively. Though prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is known to affect the central
nervous system, to date, little data exists in respect of the impact of PAE in early childhood and followed
through into adolescence. For neurodevelopmental disorders, studies have consistently shown that early
intervention, based on detection and targeted interventions, leads to better long-term outcomes. We aim to
address this precise gap in knowledge by imaging the brain and 3D face across the FASD continuum
to investigate early biomarkers, trajectories, and functional correlates of PAE in a cohort followed
prospectively from birth to age 12 years. Data: Our cohort includes a highly characterized subsample of
children (PAE and healthy controls) enrolled in the Drakenstein Child Health Study in Cape Town, South
Africa, who have been scanned as neonates, 2-years, and 6 years of age. Preliminary published data shows
highly significant relationships between PAE and regional gray and white matter changes at each of these
timepoints as well as altered white matter maturational trajectories. An additional longitudinal assessment at
12-years will yield a unique FASD sample with 4 distinct time points (infants, toddlers, children and
adolescents), allowing characterization of brain and face morphology and brain structure and function in this
previously understudied full childhood range. This proposal addresses fundamental gaps concerning the
presence, timing and regional specificity of altered brain morphology and structural and functional connectivity
in association with the effects of PAE on the developing brain from birth to 12 years, and the relationships with
facial dysmorphology. The research team has successfully gathered data from the proposed cohort as
neonates, 2–years and 6 years of age. The benefits of extending this research to a subsequent imaging time-
point, with a larger range of developmental and neurobehavioral assessments, provides an unprecedented
opportunity to determine longitudinal effects of PAE on the trajectory of the developing brain in these critical
years through early adolescence, the links between neural and face predictors of PAE and the long-term
clinical significance of these findings. This research will illuminate early neurodevelopmental trajectories
leading to subsequent behavioral and neurological disturbances, which may allow opportunities for targeting
interventions when brain plasticity is still relatively fluid. This project might also lead to new strategies for early
diagnosis usi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10883485
- **Project number:** 2R01AA026834-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Kirsty Donald
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $521,003
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2018-09-20 → 2029-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10883485

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10883485, Longitudinal mapping of brain-face-behavior trajectories in prenatal alcohol exposure from birth through adolescence (2R01AA026834-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-02 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10883485. Licensed CC0.

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