Abstract #0316

Peltier S, Hu X, Coles C, Li Z, Lynch M, Santhanam P

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is known to be associated with structural abnormalities, including diminished growth and microcephaly. The present study examines the effects of PAE on brain activation during an arithmetic task. Seven characterized PAE subjects and 7 control subjects were asked to perform a basic arithmetic task using a block-design paradigm. Significant activation was present in temporal, prefrontal, posterior cingulate, angular gyrus, and parietal regions in PAE subjects, while control subjects demonstrated activation in the temporal and prefrontal regions only (p<0.05). Results suggest a PAE subject must utilize more neurons in the parietal and prefrontal regions for arithmetic tasks.