Effects of short-term prenatal alcohol exposure on neuronal membrane order in rats.
Long-Evans rat dams were treated with ethanol (4 g/kg, twice daily) by gavage on gestational days 10-14. This dosage schedule has been shown to produce significant behavioral and ponderal teratogenicity. Pair-fed dams were gavaged with isocaloric amounts of sucrose. All offspring were reared by untreated, surrogate dams. Pups were sacrificed on days 3 and 28, and whole brain neuronal plasma membranes were prepared for analysis by a fluorescence polarization technique using 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene as the membrane probe. On day 3, steady-state anisotropy was significantly decreased in the ethanol-treated pups. Arrhenius plots revealed that this difference was associated with a change on both membrane entropy and enthalpy. By day 28, the differences between groups disappeared. These data would be consistent with the view that the brief gestational ethanol exposure delays neuronal maturation.
Vorhees
C V
CV
Institute for Developmental Research, Children's Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH.
Rauch
S
S
Hitzemann
R
R
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects*; D004161:Diphenylhexatriene; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D005454:Fluorescence Polarization; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D013347:Subcellular Fractions
D008563:Membrane Lipids; D004161:Diphenylhexatriene; D000431:Ethanol