Maternal Alcohol Consumption and Stress Responsiveness in Offspring

It is now generally acknowledged that pre- and/or postnatal environmental factors, such as stress and drugs, can exert long-lasting neurobehavioral effects in the individual. These factors may influence the development of central regulatory systems by acting directly on the fetal brain or indirectly through changes in the internal environment of the mother and fetus. The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome which has been recognized as a clinical entity for the past 15 years (1) is a case in point. Adverse effects of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy on growth and development of the offspring have been well documented in humans and laboratory animals (2). Mental retardation and behavioral deficits, such as hyperactivity, jitteriness, irritability and marked attentional and learning problems, are consistently observed in children who were exposed to alcohol in utero (3).