Expression of neural specification genes (Table 5 and 7) and neurotrophic/growth factor genes (Table 4 and 7) was also reduced by the ethanol exposure. These participate in neuronal specification, neural stem cell differentiation, and neural fate determination [51-55]. Suppression of these genes predicts a downstream reduction in the early formation of neural cells. Null neurog 1 (Ngn1) or neurog 2 (Ngn2) leads to sensory abnormality [56,57]). These differential expression of neuronal specification/patterning genes together with neurotrophic genes supports the dysmorphism and developmental delay of neural tube and fore-to mid-brain formation. The Igf1 and EGF genes were also identified by a microarray study with 3 h alcohol treatment [27] indicating they are altered early after ethanol exposure. The down-regulation of these neural specification and neural trophic/growth factor genes may play a major role in the neurodevelopmental deficit observed in the current study and featured in FASD.
