色情视频

鈥淵et we still know relatively little, considering how many decades have gone by, on how we can treat kids and what we can do to minimize the effects.鈥�

Is it possible to reverse the cognitive deficits seen in children exposed to alcohol in the womb?

色情视频 psychology professor Jennifer Thomas has made this question a central focus of her life鈥檚 work. Thomas led the team that first studied how the essential nutrient choline, plentiful in food like eggs and liver, may improve the cognitive and behavioral function of a fetus or infant whose brain is impaired from prenatal exposure to alcohol.

Now Thomas has received a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) award to research how exactly choline affects development of the alcohol-exposed brain. 

MERIT awards are given to productive researchers whose work the NIH deems 鈥渄istinctly superior,鈥� and who 鈥渁re highly likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner.鈥� 

The award guarantees several years of funding (typically up to a decade), allowing scientists to explore research paths they might not otherwise have the opportunity to investigate. Thomas鈥檚 initial award is for $1.7 million over five years. 

There are approximately 450 active MERIT awards in total, and 色情视频 boasts four of them鈥攁 number that鈥檚 competitive with some of the most active research universities in the nation. 

Treatment possible

Children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) suffer physical problems, poor growth, cognitive deficits and behavioral issues. Not all children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure have FAS, but some have a range of FAS-like symptoms in varying degrees that are described as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).

Thomas鈥檚 research seeks to discover how choline works in the brain, to allow scientists to better understand its possible applications  for improving outcomes for children with FASD. 

The vast majority of the robust research on these disorders focuses on understanding the disorders, rather than developing treatment.

鈥淲e鈥檝e known since the 1970s that prenatal alcohol exposure can be damaging to the fetus,鈥� Thomas explained. 鈥淵et we still know relatively little, considering how many decades have gone by, on how we can treat kids and what we can do to minimize the effects.鈥�

Thomas鈥檚 research shows that choline has a positive effect when delivered prenatally, and even when delivered after birth. The possibility of postnatal treatment is a promising one, Thomas explained.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what鈥檚 so exciting, because intervention may not necessarily be possible when a woman is drinking. You might not have the opportunity to intervene during the alcohol exposure time. But we may be able to intervene after the baby is born.鈥�

Finding the mechanism

Certain areas of the brain, like the hippocampus, change throughout the course of life, something scientists call plasticity. Thomas plans to look at how choline affects plasticity, especially in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is important for learning and memory. 

Despite years of research that establish a positive relationship between choline and memory, there remains a lot to learn about the nutrient and the mechanism it employs to influence cognition. 

Choline has many different functions. It can transform from a nutrient into a neurotransmitter, a chemical that is essential to communication in the brain. It affects the membranes of cells in the brain. It also affects gene expression.

Given that choline is such a multi-faceted nutrient, Thomas鈥檚 research question is a fundamental one.

鈥淐holine can lead to long-lasting improvements in behavioral and cognitive functioning,鈥� Thomas said. 鈥淏ut what is choline actually doing? How is it affecting brain development to cause behavioral changes? We are trying to understand the mechanism.鈥�

Brian Christie, a researcher with the University of Victoria, is working with Thomas on this endeavor. 

Based on Thomas鈥檚 work, three research teams in the United States, South Africa and Ukraine are now conducting clinical trials on children with FASD with some promising preliminary results.

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