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Figure 1 | Genome Medicine

Figure 1

From: Genetic and epigenetic insights into fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Figure 1

In communities where alcohol abuse is common there is a high risk for FASD. This risk and the severity of the outcome depend on specific environmental triggers, genetic variation in the parents and the resulting combination in the fetus, and several critical time periods for epigenetic remodeling in a vulnerable fetus. The figure illustrates the complex interactions that affect the risk for developing a FASD/FAS phenotype. In the mother, alcohol metabolism and enzymes involved in epigenetic remodeling may be particularly important, as well as alcohol metabolism by the placenta and fetus. In the fetus, genes involved in alcohol metabolism, epigenetic remodeling and development, particularly in the central nervous system and brain, are probably important.

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