title: Teratogenesis after acute alcohol exposure in cultured rat embryos.
abstract: In order to investigate whether alcohol has teratogenic properties, rat embryos were cultured in vitro during their organogenetic period and exposed to ethanol at 200-800 mg% culture medium for the 48 hours of culture (0-24 somite stage) or to 600-800 mg% for 24 hours, or 6-hour periods. Exposure to alcohol throughout the entire 48-hour culture period or the first 24-hour period (0-12 somites) produced marked growth retardation, particularly of the head region in a dose-dependent manner, but did not prevent neural tube closure. Exposure to high levels of ethanol during specific 6-hour periods of early organogenesis (three to nine somites) prevented closure of the neural tube in 30% of cultured rat embryos, indicating a direct teratogenic action of ethanol. These results implied an effect of ethanol on embryonic development, independent of maternal metabolism. The 6-hour exposure experiments demonstrated that high doses of ethanol during specific periods of organogenesis can be teratogenic.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000187:drug effects*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013723:Teratogens
chemical_list: D013723:Teratogens; D000431:Ethanol