The New York Times has an article about how valproate, an anti-epilepsy drug, reduces the IQs of children with mothers who took the drug during pregnancy.
Pregnant women who took a popular epilepsy drug, also widely used to treat migraines, pain and psychiatric disorders, had children whose I.Q. scores were significantly lower than those whose mothers took a different antiseizure medication, a new study has found.[...]Three-year-olds whose mothers had taken valproate during pregnancy had I.Q. scores that were nine points lower on average than children whose mothers had taken a different antiseizure medication, lamotrigine. The I.Q. scores of toddlers whose mothers took valproate were also lower than scores of children whose mothers took two other antiseizure medications, phenytoin and carbamazepine.[...]
Cognitive assessments were conducted in 258 2- and 3-year-olds born to 252 mothers, of whom 53 had taken valproate.
Over all, children’s I.Q. scores were strongly related to mothers’ I.Q. scores, except among the children of mothers treated with valproate, the study found.
At age 3, children exposed to valproate in utero had a mean I.Q. of 92, compared with 101 for children exposed to lamotrigine, 99 for those exposed to phenytoin, and 98 for those exposed to carbamazepine, the study found.
A nine point reduction is a large effect -- three fifths of a standard deviation. Perhaps valproate could be used on mice to help unravel the neuro-anatomy of IQ. Dose some pregnant mice with valproate. Dose others with a placebo. Compare the cognitive function of the resulting offspring. If the offspring of the mice dosed with valproate display cognitive deficits (reduced ability to learn a maze, for example), then compare the brains of the experimental mice with the control mice to see what brian structure is missing or has been degraded.
Source: New York Times
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