Alcohol metabolism and fetal hypoplasia in chick brain.
Chick embryos given a single dose of ethanol (1.0 g/kg) at the start of incubation (day 0) had widely differing levels of blood alcohol when sacrificed on day 7 and the blood alcohol levels were inversely correlated with whole body and brain weight. Clearance of the alcohol by the embryos was inhibited by simultaneous treatment with 4-methyl pyrazole and this treatment potentiated the brain growth inhibition due to ethanol. Treatment with indomethacin lowered blood alcohol levels on day 7 and protected against the growth inhibition. These data suggest that early chick embryos have varying amounts of alcohol dehydrogenase-like metabolic activity and that higher levels of this activity protect against alcohol-induced brain growth inhibition in this model. If similar variations in the ability to metabolize alcohol exist in human fetuses, it may represent a mechanism by which comparable maternal doses of alcohol produce widely varying fetal effects.
Pennington
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Department of Biochemistry, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, NC 27858.
D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000196:embryology / Q000473:pathology; D002642:Chick Embryo; D000431:Ethanol / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000097:blood* / Q000633:toxicity; D000077604:Fomepizole; D007213:Indomethacin / Q000494:pharmacology; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D011720:Pyrazoles / Q000494:pharmacology
D011720:Pyrazoles; D000431:Ethanol; D000077604:Fomepizole; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase; D007213:Indomethacin