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To support the free and open dissemination of research findings and information on alcoholism and alcohol-related problems. To encourage open access to peer-reviewed articles free for all to view.

For full versions of posted research articles readers are encouraged to email requests for "electronic reprints" (text file, PDF files, FAX copies) to the corresponding or lead author, who is highlighted in the posting.

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Sunday, April 29, 2007

Press Release: Drugs Of Abuse Used During Pregnancy Inhibit Ability Of Human Placenta Cells To Uptake Folate

April 29, 2007

A study using human placental cells may help explain how drugs of abuse used during pregnancy - including alcohol, nicotine, ecstasy, amphetamine and hashish - can produce toxic effects on the developing fetus.


In a paper presented on April 29 at Experimental Biology 2007, in Washington, DC, researchers from the Department of Biochemistry of the Medical Faculty in Porto University and the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in S. Joao Hospital in Porto, Portugal, reported that these substances, sometimes at doses below “recreational” blood level, inhibited uptake of folates by cells taken from human placenta. The presentation is part of the scientific program of The American Physiological Society.



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