Supplement May Prevent Alcohol-Related Brain, Skull Defects
Posted Jun 01 2010 6:41pm
The dietary supplement CDP-choline, sold as a brain-boosting agent and under study for stroke and traumatic brain injury, may block skull and brain damage that can result from alcohol consumption early in pregnancy, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.
Alcohol consumption in early pregnancy increases levels of a little-known lipid called ceramide, significantly increasing suicide among cells critical to skull and brain formation, Dr. Erhard Bieberich, biochemist in the MCG Schools of Graduate Studies and Medicine, reports in Cell Death and Disease.
Resulting neural crest damage includes the brain’s “skin” – the multi-layered meninges that provides protection and nourishment – producing less TGF-β1, a growth factor critical for brain and bone development. That finding may help explain the cranial bone and cognitive defects that can result in fetal alcohol syndrome.
The dietary supplement CDP-choline, sold as a brain-boosting agent and under study for stroke and traumatic brain injury, may block skull and brain damage that can result from alcohol consumption early in pregnancy, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.
Alcohol consumption in early pregnancy increases levels of a little-known lipid called ceramide, significantly increasing suicide among cells critical to skull and brain formation, Dr. Erhard Bieberich, biochemist in the MCG Schools of Graduate Studies and Medicine, reports in Cell Death and Disease.
Resulting neural crest damage includes the brain’s “skin” – the multi-layered meninges that provides protection and nourishment – producing less TGF-β1, a growth factor critical for brain and bone development. That finding may help explain the cranial bone and cognitive defects that can result in fetal alcohol syndrome.