EVEN small amounts of a damaging chemical at a crucial stage in fetal development can lead neurons in an infant’s brain to commit suicide at accelerated rates. The new insight suggests that a single mechanism may lie at the heart of a wide spectrum of disorders, including fetal alcohol syndrome and schizophrenia.
The health effects of exposure to alcohol in the womb are well known – babies can develop anything from learning difficulties and memory problems to depression and psychosis in later life. But the mechanism was a mystery until 1999, when John Olner and his colleagues from Washington State…
