PSY 607 Lecture Notes - Nicotine Patch, Impulsivity, Mptp
Document Summary
In practice, it refers to any agent that can cause birth defects. Alcohol consumption by a pregnant mother can cause birth defects in her unborn child. These defects are irreversible and manifest themselves over the course of the child"s development. How alcohol causes birth defects has not been categorically determined. However, current evidence shows that alcohol (small molecule) passes through the placental barrier (the mesh of densely packed cells that protects and nourishes the fetus). Once inside, alcohol appears to disturb the complex signalling process by which dna is used to create the various structures in the body and cns of the fetus. Alcohol may even disturb the dna code itself, compromising the eventual development of the child, long after it is born. Fetal alcohol syndrome (fas) refers to a specific set of neurological, morphological, and behavioral deficits that emerge in children who were exposed to alcohol while they were in their mother"s womb.
