Anti-clotting drug Mar. YNHH directory assist. A single drinking binge by a pregnant woman can be enough to cause irreversible damage to the baby's brain, according to research published in the February 11 issue of Science .
Children born to drinking mothers can suffer learning disabilities and other brain disorders.
Although experiments in the study were conducted on laboratory rats, experts said the findings offer an explanation of why children born to drinking mothers can suffer learning disabilities and other brain disorders. The researchers led by Dr. John Olney, a professor of psychiatry and neuropathology at Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis, studied newborn rats, whose brain development is similar to a human's except for the timing of a key growth spurt, which is called synaptogenesis. Rats, and presumably humans, are most susceptible to alcohol-related damage during a growth spurt when developing brain cells are building the connections needed for memory, learning and thought. The study indicates that rats, and presumably humans, are most susceptible to alcohol - related neurological damage during this growth spurt when developing brain cells are furiously building the connections needed for memory, learning and thought. In humans, this brain growth spurt starts in the sixth month of gestation.