The effects of ethanol on neural function and development have been studied extensively, motivated in part by the addictive properties of alcohol and the neurodevelopmental deficits that arise in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Absent from this research area is a genetically tractable system to study the effects of early ethanol exposure on later neurodevelopmental and behavioral phenotypes. Here, we used embryos of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model system to investigate the neuronal defects that arise after an early exposure to ethanol. We found several disruptions of neural development and morphology following a brief ethanol exposure during embryogenesis and subsequent changes in larval behavior. Altogether, this study establishes a new system to examine the effects of alcohol exposure in embryos and the potential to conduct large‐scale genetics screens to uncover novel factors that sensitize or protect neurons to the effects of alcohol.

中文翻译：

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早期，短暂接触乙醇后果蝇神经系统发育的分析。

乙醇对神经功能和发育的影响已得到广泛研究，部分原因是酒精的成瘾性和胎儿酒精谱系障碍（FASD）儿童所引起的神经发育缺陷。该研究领域缺少一个遗传学上可操纵的系统来研究早期乙醇暴露对后期神经发育和行为表型的影响。在这里，我们使用了果蝇Drosophila melanogaster的胚胎，作为研究早期暴露于乙醇后出现的神经元缺陷的模型系统。我们发现胚胎发育过程中短暂的乙醇暴露以及幼虫行为的随后变化后，神经发育和形态发生了数次破坏。总而言之，这项研究建立了一个新系统，以检查酒精对胚胎的影响以及进行大规模遗传学筛查以发现使酒精对神经元敏感或保护神经元的新因素的潜力。