The aim of this paper is to discuss the impact of drug and alcohol abuse among pregnant mothers and how these affect the brain development and behaviour of the fetus in the womb. Avoiding alcohol and different types of drugs while pregnant is simply rejected by physicians for centuries because the mothers are responsible for the child’s health and its growth during those months. Avoiding substances like marijuana, nicotine, alcohol and even legally prescribed drugs is expected as the chemicals in these items can affect the development of nerves and other organs during pregnancy. Most of these chemicals can cross the placenta easily and affect foetal brain development. In utero exposure, to these chemicals can also have long-lasting impact upon the brain structure and behaviour of the child in future.
The development of the foetus in the mother’s womb is a critical procedure and require excessive care as the child grows all organ system gradually. The most important aspect is the brain and entire nervous system these months is dependent upon mothers’ capacity to refrain from drug and alcohol. A normal human brain at birth is approximately 800 grams which is more than half of the weight of an adult brain. The neural tube during embryonic development can create cells that form neurones. These are the building blocks for the central nervous system both for the brain as well as the spinal cord. After 10 weeks of conception, the major structures of the spinal cord and brain are recognisable in the foetus. The brain grows rapidly during pregnancy through the process which involves extensive cell growth and death along with developing connections among themselves (Abduljalil & Badhan, 2020). During this time, any interference can have a significant impact on the growth and cognition of the child which also includes language skills and intelligence. Brain development occurs by the growth and pruning of cells when the induced cells are dead. It is also the time of connecting the cells to develop neural pathways termed myelination. This process takes place as the child has the experience and develop bonds with their loved ones. In general, the major defects in the internal organ can take place between 3 to 12 foetal weeks. Therefore pregnant mothers need to reference any type of drug abuse and alcohol consumption because this can negatively impact cell development and connection.
Recent data suggest that more than 25 million Americans at the age of 12 or older are illusion drug abusers, almost 9.2% of the entire population (Chang et al., 2019). Different illegal drugs include cocaine, hashish, marijuana, heroin, inhalants, and hallucinogen and prescription-type psychotherapeutic drugs. Along with these some legitimate drugs are also used among pregnant women due to lack of awareness which keeps on affecting a child in the women. Legal drugs like nicotine or alcohol also represent significant problems regarding the unintended effect on the child during pregnancy. The prevalence report of the current cigarette and alcohol use rate is increasing compared to the past decade. These chemicals have negative biological processes which are modelled among different animal species with unique development timelines to understand the advantages and disadvantages.
Various research reflects that the drug alters foetus development with different types of mechanisms increases the drug process placenta then this can act on the molecular target to the foetus. These drugs can act directly on the Placenta and uterus which include uteroplacental bleeding and altering placental secretary activities (Sebastiani et al., 2018). The drugs can impact the mother’s physiology with secondarily influences the foetus. This can increase the secretion of adrenaline for the thyroid hormone and alter maternal health behaviour. These behaviours can be attributable to the addition of the mother during pregnancy. Through research, it has also been clear that prenatal exposure to drugs like cocaine can also affect the foetus before its genesis. The spermatogenesis process can also influence the child’s brain and neurobehavioral development through epigenetic mechanisms.
Prenatal substance abuse is effective for the brain development and behaviour of the child before birth, but the same thing occurs by the use of thalidomide also. This directly affects the nervous system of the child and often, it leads to very short or missing limbs or missing parts of the ears of the foetus. The embryonic period is a critical period when the organ systems are formed and brain development can be perceived but the use of thalidomide as mild seductive or the remedy of morning sickness (Dathe & Schaefer, 2019). The popularity of this drug rose but it also sought the attention of public safety concerns because the physicians noticed a high occurrence of serious congenital disability among the children taking this particular drug. This is a medicine used to treat various cancers and skin conditions like leprosy. These various use of this drug did not support pregnant women with foetus therefore in many countries; the drug has been completely banned.
Alcohol and drug abuse have prevented foetal brain development and behaviour. Marijuana, Alcohol and opioid have proved to be dangerous for foetal development
This substance can completely rupture the cognitive flexibility of the unborn child because of this process placenta and prevents natural growth of nervous system development. Prenatal marijuana exposure induces an increase of kynurenic acid that leads to cognitive impairment among the foetus (Ramlakhan, Johnson & Roos-Hesselink, 2020). The babies born to the women using marijuana display increased trembling, altered responses to the visual stimuli and high pitched cry. Marijuana exposed children show neurological development problems and black capacity of problems solving skills as well as memory.
Research has found that the children who were exposed to a high level of prenatal cocaine have lower intelligence as their brain development is interrupted during their mother’s pregnancy. The chemical available in this drug directly crosses the Placenta and enter the body of features and disrupt the central nervous system during the critical periods of foetal development. This creates a problem inhibiting healthy blood flow to the unborn child’s brain. This can lead to premature birth and low birth weight (Lynch et al., 2018). In some cases, placental abruption can also be found in which sudden bleeding within the placenta harms the growth of the foetus. The use of cocaine in during pregnancy is mainly related to maternal seizures and migraine and separation of placenta lining from the uterus before delivery. This can also lead to a smaller head circumference of the baby which reflects a disruption in brain development.
Alcohol during pregnancy leads to congenital disabilities and the physician can easily identify babies with alcohol exposure. There are various types of cells in the brain which send chemical messages and grow themselves during pregnancy. The neurones in the nervous system at supported by glial cells that help the neurones to send messages and get rid of extra neurones from time to time. These cells ensure the neurones will be growing at the right place at the right time. The radial glial cells are completely damaged by alcohol exposure. Alcohol causes these cells to create a thin and long structure which often do not survive for the long term. This damage leads and injury in the brain which makes learning difficult and other health problems before birth.
Any type of drug abuse and alcohol consumption can lead children to suffer from anencephaly in which children born with a deformity or no organ. It substance can react differently on the children but actually leave a long term impact among them. The issues relating to attention, Intelligence and higher-level executive functions like language and problem-solving skills are found with time. Along with this emotional functioning and behaviour regulation among the children can also be the result of drug abuse and alcohol consumption during pregnancy (Barbosa-Leiker et al, 2020). Academic underachievement or pursuing a failed career reveals the problems of children before birth. The children can also lead to practice the same in terms of drug abuse top exposure to nicotine or tobacco during pregnancy can be associated with behaviour problems including ADHD. Marijuana leads to a mint in visual perception abilities and attention. The children grow behaviour problems like delinquent behaviour. Alcohol leads to poor growth and low intelligence. Children suffer from academic underachievement and attention problems that ultimately ruin their lives. Cocaine creates problems in learning language and the importance of self-control. The children lack memory and Organisation. They fail in time management and grow emotional or behavioural problems.
Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that pregnant mothers need to be aware about the impact of drug abuse and alcohol consumption have negative impact upon the baby’s brain and behavioural development. During this time, any interference of drug or alcohol can have significant impact on the growth and cognition of the child. Proper consultation with physician can solve such issues.
References
Abduljalil, K., & Badhan, R. K. S. (2020). Drug dosing during pregnancy—opportunities for physiologically based pharmacokinetic models. Journal of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, 47(4), 319-340.
Barbosa-Leiker, C., Burduli, E., Smith, C. L., Brooks, O., Orr, M., & Gartstein, M. (2020). Daily cannabis use during pregnancy and postpartum in a state with legalized recreational cannabis. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 14(6), 467.
Chang, J. C., Tarr, J. A., Holland, C. L., De Genna, N. M., Richardson, G. A., Rodriguez, K. L., … & Arnold, R. M. (2019). Beliefs and attitudes regarding prenatal marijuana use: perspectives of pregnant women who report use. Drug and alcohol dependence, 196, 14-20.
Dathe, K., & Schaefer, C. (2019). The use of medication in pregnancy. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 116(46), 783.
Lynch, M. M., Squiers, L. B., Kosa, K. M., Dolina, S., Read, J. G., Broussard, C. S., … & Biermann, J. (2018). Making decisions about medication use during pregnancy: Implications for communication strategies. Maternal and child health journal, 22(1), 92-100.
Moro, R. N., Scott, N. A., Vernon, A., Tepper, N. K., Goldberg, S. V., Schwartzman, K., … & Sterling, T. R. (2018). Exposure to latent tuberculosis treatment during pregnancy. The PREVENT TB and the iAdhere Trials. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 15(5), 570-580.
Ramlakhan, K. P., Johnson, M. R., & Roos-Hesselink, J. W. (2020). Pregnancy and cardiovascular disease. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 17(11), 718-731.
Sebastiani, G., Borrás-Novell, C., Alsina Casanova, M., Pascual Tutusaus, M., Ferrero Martínez, S., Gómez Roig, M. D., & García-Algar, O. (2018). The effects of alcohol and drugs of abuse on maternal nutritional profile during pregnancy. Nutrients, 10(8), 1008.
Tomson, T., Battino, D., & Perucca, E. (2019). Teratogenicity of antiepileptic drugs. Current opinion in neurology, 32(2), 246-252.
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