In adult animals and humans, METH exerts its neurotoxic effects on multiple brain areas including prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens)57-59, dorsal striatum (putamen, caudate, globus pallidus)60, hippocampus and cingulate gyrus61, and amygdala62. These areas of the brain are important in the development, expression and control of affect, attention, language and cognition, and social relationships, functional domains that have all been identified as potential areas of concern following prenatal psychostimulant exposure63-67. In addition to its direct neurotoxic effects, METH may alter fetal development through indirect mechanisms such as vasoconstriction68, 69, resulting in diminished utero-placental blood flow and fetal hypoxia70, and maternal anorexia71, resulting in intrauterine growth retardation and impaired fetal brain development72, 73.
