Alcohol exposure during prenatal development is a leading cause of preventable birth defects and mental disabilities (Bower, Szajer, Mattson, Riley, & Murphy, 2013; Nuñez, Roussotte, & Sowell, 2011; Sowell et al., 2008a). Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), the most severe form of FAE, affects two to seven per 1,000 individuals in the United States (May et al., cited in Simmons, Thomas, Levy, & Riley, 2010). The term fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) describes a person with varying levels of PAE. Sampson et al. (cited in Simmons et al., 2010) estimate that 1 in 100 people suffer from some form of FASD. With such a high prevalence in the population, numerous studies have been performed showing the harmful effects of PAE. The purpose of this article is to review the literature on brain development and structural changes in response to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). PAE presents with several characteristic symptoms, including cerebral and facial dysmorphology. Disruption of normal brain development due to prenatal alcohol exposure is linked to reduced size and/or damage in almost all parts of the brain (Lebel, Roussotte, & Sowell, 2011), decreased neuron generation rate, delayed and/or atypical migration of neurons. during brain development and a decrease in the development of myelin and axons (Guerri and Renau-Piqueras, 1997). PPE has also been associated with reduced motor coordination (Xie, Yang, Chappell, Li, & Waters, 2009), decreased IQ and attention span, increased tendency toward hyperactivity, and poor decreased verbal learning ability and language skills (Yang et al., 2011). Additionally, individuals exposed to high levels of alcohol in the womb exhibit growth retardation (Lebel et al., 2011) and typical facial exposure to alcohol...... middle of paper.. ....y prenatal exposure to alcohol. Cerebral Cortex, 18(1), 136-144. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhm039Tajuddin, NF, Orrico, LA, Eriksen, JL, & Druse, MJ (2003). Effects of ethanol and ipsapirone on the development of medial raphe glial cells and astrocytes. Alcohol, 29, 157-164. doi:10.1016/S0741-8239(03)00024-7Xie, N., Yang, Q., Chappell, TD, Li, C.-X. and Waters, R.S. (2010). Prenatal alcohol exposure reduces the size of the forelimb representation in the motor cortex in rats: an intracortical microstimulation mapping study (ICMS). Alcohol, 44, 185-194. doi:10.1016/j.alcohol.2009.10.014 Yang, Y., Roussotte, F., Kan, E., Sulik, KK, Mattson, SN, Riley, EP, . . . Sowell, E.R. (2011). Abnormal alteration of cortical thickness in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and their relationship with facial dysmorphology. Cerebral Cortex, 22, 1170-1179. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhr193