As with facial dysmorphology, basic science models illustrate that the timing of alcohol administration also produces differing patterns of brain malformations, which again may account for the variability in outcomes. O’Leary-Moore and colleagues (2011) recently reviewed the different brain changes following a single day of alcohol exposure during early fetal development in the mouse using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Alcohol exposure on GD 7 was particularly damaging to medial forebrain regions, with relative sparing of mesencephalic and rhombencephalic regions (Godin et al. 2010). The morphological changes induced by alcohol exposure on GD 8 included disproportionate volume reductions in the olfactory bulbs, hippocampus, and cerebellum and relative sparring of the pituitary and septal regions (Parnell et al. 2009). GD 9 exposure produced reductions in cerebellar volume, ventricle enlargement, and shape deviations in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and right striatum (Parnell et al. 2013). In contrast, offspring exposed to alcohol on GD 10 displayed enlarged ventricles and disproportionate reductions in cortical volume (O’Leary-Moore et al. 2010). Brain-imaging studies in humans with FASD also find morphological alterations in many of these brain structures
