title: Ethanol-induced limb defects in mice: effect of strain and Ro15-4513.
abstract: It is now thought that ethanol exerts many of its behavioral effects in the CNS by interaction with the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor, and it has been shown that the benzodiazepine reverse agonist Ro15-4513 reverses some of the CNS effects produced by ethanol. The hypothesis was tested that ethanol exerts its teratogenic effects through interaction with a putative embryonic GABA receptor by determining whether Ro15-4513 reverses ethanol-induced forelimb ectrodactyly in C57BL/6 mice. First, pregnant C57BL/6 dams were injected twice i.p. with ethanol (2.9 g/kg body weight, 4 hr apart) on day 10 of gestation: 49% of the fetuses were resorbed or dead and 46% of the survivors showed forelimb ectrodactyly. In contrast, when SWV mice were treated with ethanol, embryolethality was only 11.9% and no forelimb ectrodactyly was observed. In a second experiment, when ethanol (2.6 g/kg x 2) was administered to C57BL/6 mice, 34% resorptions and 31% forelimb ectrodactyly were observed. Ectrodactyly induced by ethanol was primarily of the forelimb and exclusively postaxial. Ethanol produced an unusual forelimb defect in a small number of instances where there was a postaxial autopod reduction defect coupled with a preaxial zeugopod reduction defect. Ro15-4513 administered alone (50 mg/kg x 2) was neither embryolethal nor teratogenic in C57BL/6 mice. To attempt to reverse the teratogenic effect of ethanol, dams that were injected 5 min before each ethanol administration with Ro15-4513 (0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10 mg/kg twice) showed no significant change in frequency of forelimb ectrodactyly compared to embryos treated with ethanol alone. However, resorptions increased significantly to 77% and 62% with the 5 and 10 mg/kg doses of Ro15-4513. Thus there appears to be an embryolethal interaction of Ro15-4513 with ethanol. Nevertheless, since Ro15-4513 did not reverse the teratogenic effect induced by ethanol, these results do not support the hypothesis that the teratogenic mechanism of ethanol is mediated through a putative embryonic GABA receptor.
authors.affiliation: Division of Basic Science Research, Children's Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229.
authors.forename: E F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Collins
mesh_terms: D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced; D000818:Animals; D001386:Azides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D005327:Fetal Resorption / Q000139:chemically induced; D005552:Forelimb / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011247:Pregnancy; D011859:Radiography; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D001386:Azides; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D001569:Benzodiazepines; D000431:Ethanol; C042957:Ro 15-4513