In a significant finding, researchers have revealed that alcohol consumption during pregnancy interferes with the genetic processes that control thyroid hormone levels in the fetal brain, thus leading to neurodevelopmental disorders.
Fetal alcohol exposure-even from moderate drinking during pregnancy-can cause emotional behavioural disorders and deficits in learning, memory and speech.
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"Specific concentrations of thyroid hormones must be available in the fetal brain to support normal neurological development," said study author Laura Sittig, a student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
She said one of the enzymes that control thyroid hormone levels in the fetal brain is the iodothyronine deiodinase type III, or Dio3.
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In this process, Dio3 normally originates from the father's gene, while the maternal gene is silenced by epigenetic control. But alcohol exposure changes the paternal-maternal dosage of Dio3, which increases the amount of the enzyme present in specific brain regions of the fetus, the authors found.
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"In light of our current finding, we can begin testing specific dietary supplements that could reverse the epigenetic alterations that disrupt the regulation of Dio3," Sittig said.
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"This is a promising avenue to improve the prognosis of alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorders, for which we currently have no intervention strategy," she added.
Source-ANI
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