It appears that prenatal alcohol exposure has an enduring impact on brain development; however an important consideration is how the environment may contribute. Environmental experience has an integral role in determining brain morphology, physiology and chemistry (for review refer to [39]). Environmental input is converted to patterns of neural activity that drive functional and structural plasticity, however prenatal alcohol exposure may change the brain's ability to incorporate such experience. Additionally, individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure may have a fundamentally different life experience from those who are typically developing, not only during the fetal period but also in postnatal stages. Experiencing additional stressors, malnutrition, and/or limited enrichment along with the prenatal alcohol may converge to produce a brain with a disrupted developmental trajectory.
