Spatial Navigation in Children and Young Adults with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.
BACKGROUND
Rodent studies have consistently shown that prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) impairs performance on the Morris water maze (MWM), a test of spatial navigation. A previous study comparing boys with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) to controls found poorer performance on the virtual water maze (VWM), a human analogue of the MWM. We examined PAE effects on virtual navigation in both sexes using the VWM in a moderately exposed Detroit cohort (N = 104; mean = 19.4 year) and a heavily exposed Cape Town, South African cohort (N = 62; mean = 10.4 year).


METHODS
The task requires the participant to learn the location of a hidden platform in a virtual pool of water. The set of acquisition trials requires the participant to learn the location of the hidden platform and to return to that location repeatedly. The single-probe trial requires the participant to return to that location without knowing that the platform has been removed.


RESULTS
No effects of FASD diagnostic group or PAE were detected on virtual navigation in the Detroit moderately exposed cohort. By contrast, in the more heavily exposed Cape Town cohort, the FAS/partial FAS (PFAS) group took longer to locate the hidden platform during acquisition than nonsyndromal heavily exposed (HE) and control groups, an effect that persisted even after controlling for IQ. Among boys, both the FAS/PFAS and HE groups performed more poorly than controls during acquisition, and both boys and girls born to women who binge drank performed more poorly than those born to abstainers/light drinkers. Both amount and frequency of PAE were related to poorer performance during the probe trial at 10 years of age.


CONCLUSIONS
These data demonstrate deficits in spatial navigation among heavily exposed syndromal boys and girls and in nonsyndromal exposed boys.
['Dodge|Neil C|NC|0000-0002-5666-3060', 'Thomas|Kevin G F|KGF|', 'Meintjes|Ernesta M|EM|', 'Molteno|Christopher D|CD|', 'Jacobson|Joseph L|JL|', 'Jacobson|Sandra W|SW|0000-0002-9768-2671']
D016022:Case-Control Studies D002648:Child D015331:Cohort Studies D005260:Female D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders D006801:Humans D008297:Male D018782:Maze Learning D011247:Pregnancy D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects D012737:Sex Factors D065854:Spatial Navigation D000076142:Virtual Reality D055815:Young Adult
Spatial Navigation Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Place Learning Sex Differences Virtual Environment