5.7. Psychiatric Disorders
Adults exposed to binge drinking while in utero were found to have increased rate of somatoform
disorders, substance dependence, paranoid, passive aggressive, anti social and other personality
disorders [58].
6. Mechanism of Alcohol Teratogenicity
Different mechanisms have been offered to explain the teratogenic effects of alcohol on the
developing embryo. They include the following: (1) Increased oxidative stress; (2) Disturbed glucose,
protein, lipid and DNA metabolism; (3) Impaired neurogenesis and increased cellular apoptosis,
especially of neural crest cells [26,59-61]; 4) Endocrine effect; 5) Effects on gene expression.