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The myth that the third trimester of pregnancy was a “safe” time to use alcohol or illicit substances held sway for many generations. More recently, scientists performing preclinical studies have found that alcohol, in amounts comparable to human social drinking, causes neuronal apoptosis in developing rats (JW Psychiatry Apr 1 2000). Another research group now reports the effect of cocaine in third-trimester fetal primate brains, which have the dopamine transporters necessary for adult-like cocaine action.
The researchers used PET scans in 12 third-trimester pregnant bonnet macaques to noninvasively study glucose metabolic rates (as a marker of brain function) in maternal and fetal central nervous systems. Four macaques received cocaine int…