Browsing by Author "López, D."

Ethanol is transformed in the mother by the catalytic action of alcohol and acetaldehyde-dehydrogenases, and the products of these reactions (NADH and acetaldehyde) are responsable of most of the negative effects of ethanol. Ethanol crosses the placenta freely, reaching in the feta! circuk.tion the same levels as in the mother. The placenta has the capacity to oxidyze acetaldehyde, thus maternal acetaldehyde does not reach the fetus. Besides this, the fetus does not have etha11ol metabolyzing enzymes. By using the rat as experimental model, we have found that metabolites known to cross the placenta such as glucose and ketone bodies vary in the fetus in a parallel manner as in the mother after alcohol intake. However, compounds known not to cross the placenta such as triglycerides do not change in the fetus whereas they increase in both plasma and liver of the mother after alcohol intake. After birth, retarded development of newborns from mothers receiving alcohol throughout gestation is progressivelly recuperated, but this recuperation depends on the parameter studied and the nutritional and environmental condition. The animal model herein used is valid for studies on the feta! alcohol syndrome, and although extrapolation to humans must be done with caution. present results indicate that most negative effects of maternal alcohol ingestion on the fetus are secondarv to ethanol action on maternal metabolism. and the\' mav be ameliorated by an adequate postnatal nutritional condition.

Addition of ethanol ( ET) to the drinking fluid of pregnant rats has been questioned as an experimental model for the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). This model, however. closely simulates human alcohol intake, and in this study we used a modified version of previous protocols to overcome their major defects. A group of female rats was given I 07r ET in drinking fluid for one week, 15'/r for the second week. 20'/r for the third, and 251/r for the fourth, at the end of which they were mated with non-treated males and given 251/r ET throughout gestation. Three groups of non-ET treated sex and age-matched rats were studied in parallel: (I) normal controls receiving solid diet ad lib. (2) paired fed rnts, and (3) rats fed ad lib the solid diet mixed with 50'/r fiber. In the ET group, food intake decreased as ET consumption augmented, the ET calories comprising over 3(flr of the total energy intake during pregnancy. Total energy intake was similar for ET group and normal controls, and was higher than in paired fed animals or those on 5(f/r fiber diet. Body weight gain in ET rats was similar to those on 50'/r fiber diet, lower than in normal controls and higher than in paired fed animals. At the 21st day of gestation. rats on ET had plasma ethanol levels of 147:+: 18 mg/di and higher plasma osmolality than in the other groups studied. In ET rats, fetal body weight was lower than in either normal controls or rats on 5(f/r fiber diet, and fetal body length was shorter than in any other group. These findings demonstrate that our protocol provides a suitable animal model for the study of FAS, and indicate that rats on 507r fiber diet are better control subjects than paired fed rats.