Efectos del concurso materno de alcohol durante la gestación : estudio experimental.

Abstract

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.