Foetal exposure to medicines can affect brain: Study

A new study demonstrates that in utero exposure to mother's antiepileptic or antidepressant medication may affect the development of the newborn brain networks.

In the study by the University of Helsinki, novel mathematical methods were developed to allow future research on how commonly used drugs or other environmental conditions affect the newborn brain.

Pregnant mothers may need treatment for their medical conditions, such as mood disorders or epilepsy. The effects of such drug treatment on newborn brain network functions were examined in a study conducted at the BABA Center, a research unit at the University of Helsinki and New Children's Hospital of HUS Helsinki University Hospital. The study used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure electrical brain activity during sleep, and cortical network properties were calculated using advanced mathematical techniques.

"In prior studies, we have shown that changes in cortical activity across sleep states may provide important information on infants' neurological condition," Senior Researcher Anton Tokariev says.

The study demonstrated that exposure to antiepileptics and antidepressants during the fetal period leads to widespread changes in the cortical networks, and these effects may be specific to the type of drug exposure. In the case of antidepressants, the effect was more pronounced in local cortical networks. In contrast, exposure to antiepileptics had drug-specific effects on brain-wide networks. Both drug types affected brain networks that are reactive to changes in sleep stages.

"What was clinically significant in the findings was that some EEG findings linked to children's subsequent neuropsychological development. Stronger changes in neural networks predicted a greater deviation in development at two years of age," says Mari Videman, a specialist in paediatric neurology at HUS Helsinki University Hospital.