It is estimated that one in 1,000 babies in the U.S. is born with fetal alcohol syndrome, characterized by mental and growth retardation, malformations of the brain and face, and behavioral disorders.
Alcohol abuse can also lead to neurological disorders in adults, disrupting memory and learning.
Michael Wilkemeyer, HMS instructor in neurology, and Michael Charness, HMS associate professor of neurology, director of the Alcohol Research Laboratory, and chief of neurology, both at the VA Boston Healthcare System, are leading research into how alcohol's effects on cell adhesion may be responsible for its effects on brain development. Charness's group became interested in studying alcohol and cell adhesion after noting that children with mutations in the gene for the cell adhesion molecule L1 exhibit similar brain malformations as those with severe cases of fetal alcohol syndrome. Cell adhesion molecules are critical in guiding growth and migration of neurons and helping them form nerve bundles. Charness's group showed previously that ethanol in fairly low concentrations can inhibit cell adhesion mediated by L1. In a paper published in the March 21 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group finds that alcohols like ethanol, the alcohol in drinks, have a surprisingly specific interaction with L1.