Motor Development and Subcortical Brain Volumes in Children Prenatally Exposed to Methamphetamine and Tobacco
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2015-08
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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Introduction: Methamphetamine use is a significant health concern, and doubly so for pregnant women who expose their fetuses during the prenatal period. Such prenatal methamphetamine exposure (PME) is associated with neurological alterations with developmental deficits seen clinically. This study investigated subcortical brain volume and motor development in children who were prenatal tobacco exposed (PTE), and both prenatal tobacco and methamphetamine exposed (PTE+PME). As adults often abuse both drugs concurrently, this study explored the combined influence of prenatal methamphetamine and tobacco exposure. Method: The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 was used to assess motor skills in three domains: Manual Dexterity, Aiming and Catching, and Balance. These three domains were then combined to calculate an overall global score. Scores of 32 PME+PTE, 26 PTE, and 116 unexposed control (CON) children were compared. A subset of participants was also evaluated with brain MRI Scans. 27 PME+PTE, 11 PTE, and 19 CON were scanned on a Siemens 3.0 Tesla TIMTrio MR System. Brain images were analyzed using FreeSurfer 5.1. Results: PTE children scored poorer than CON on Manual Dexterity, especially on the trail making task. PME+PTE children scored poorer than CON on Balance domain, including two tasks, balance board and jumping. The three groups were not different on Aiming and Catching. On brain imaging, PME+PTE children had smaller caudates and tended to have smaller ventral diencephalon and right globus pallidus compared to CON. Smaller caudates and right globus pallidus were associated with lower balance scores. Conclusions: Findings suggest that PME+PTE may negatively impact gross motor skill development, while PTE alone may negatively influence fine motor skill development. Smaller subcortical volumes in children with PME+PTE compared to unexposed CON are consistent with prior reports. Correlations between smaller brain structures and lower MABC-2 scores suggest that brain morphometry may predict developmental outcome.
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Motor, Prenatal, Methamphetamine
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Theses for the degree of Master of Science (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Biomedical Science
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