title: Prenatal brain malformations following acute ethanol exposure in the rat.
abstract: Morphology of the cerebral cortex was studied in fetuses on gestational Day 21 following oral administration of several doses of ethanol (for total doses of 10, 15, or 18 g/kg) to pregnant rats on gestational Days 14 and 15, a critical period for the development of the cerebral cortex. All doses of ethanol were associated with a reduction in maternal weight gain, fetal body weight, and placental weight. Only the high dose of ethanol (total dose 18 g/kg) caused significant fetal cortical thinning. Acute exposure of pregnant rats to ethanol produced dose-dependent malformations of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus in fetuses. On gestational Day 21, the 18 g/kg group contained fetuses with severely disorganized cortical architecture, heterotopias of the cerebral cortex, pia and choroid plexus, and status verrucosus deformis. Fetuses from the 10 g/kg group had less severe malformations, such as disorganization of layers of cortical neurons and dentate granule cells while fetuses from the 15 g/kg group had a mixture of severe and minor malformations. This study demonstrates that acute ethanol exposure during a critical period of development in rats can result in brain malformations similar to those reported in human fetuses and neonates from alcoholic mothers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City 66103.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Kotkoskie
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Norton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D005260:Female; D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol