Second trimester prenatal alcohol exposure alters development of rat corpus callosum

• Published in: Neurotoxicology and teratology Vol. 24; no. 6; pp. 719 - 732
• Main Authors: Qiang, Mei, Wang, Ming Wei, Elberger, Andrea J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.11.2002; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Age Factors; Agenesis of Corpus Callosum; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Brain weight; Cell Differentiation - drug effects; Cell Differentiation - physiology; Corpus callosum; Corpus Callosum - drug effects; Corpus Callosum - pathology; Dendrite development; Dendrites - drug effects; Dendrites - pathology; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Ethanol - blood; Ethanol - toxicity; Female; Fetal alcohol exposure; Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders - pathology; Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders - physiopathology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Nervous System Malformations - chemically induced; Nervous System Malformations - pathology; Nervous System Malformations - physiopathology; Neural Pathways - abnormalities; Neural Pathways - drug effects; Neural Pathways - pathology; Organ Size - drug effects; Organ Size - physiology; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Pyramidal Cells - drug effects; Pyramidal Cells - pathology; Rat; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Toxicology; Visual cortex; Visual Cortex - abnormalities; Visual Cortex - drug effects; Visual Cortex - pathology; Fetal alcohol exposure; Brain weight; Visual cortex; Dendrite development; Rat; Corpus callosum; Second trimester; Fetal alcohol syndrome; Nervous system diseases; Ethanol; Toxicity; Alcoholism; Rodentia; Gestational age; Dendrite; Pregnancy; Progeny; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Animal; Female; Critical period; Teratogen; Brain (vertebrata)
• DOI: 10.1016/S0892-0362(02)00267-2
• ISSN: 0892-0362

Prenatal alcohol exposure produces many developmental defects of the central nervous system (CNS), such as in the corpus callosum (CC). This study was designed to observe the effect of prenatal alcohol exposure during the second trimester equivalent on the development of dendritic arbors of CC projection neurons (CCpn) in rat visual cortex. In addition, the effect of second trimester equivalent prenatal alcohol exposure on brain weight was determined. Pregnant dams received 1.2–6.0 g/kg ethanol (EtOH) during gestational day (G) 11–20. Controls consisted of normal and nutritionally matched pairfed (PF) dams. Pups were sacrificed on the day of birth, G26, G29 and G33. DiI crystals were placed in the midsagittal CC bundle to retrogradely label CCpn. Images of visual cortex were obtained from tissue slices using a confocal laser scanning microscope. The number and length of apical and basilar dendrite branches were determined. The results show that prenatal alcohol exposure restricted to the second trimester equivalent alters the development of the CCpn dendritic arbor and the brain weight in a blood alcohol concentration (BAC)-dependent manner. The alteration in the EtOH CCpn is manifested as an increase in the number and length of CCpn apical and basilar dendrite branches, while brain weight is reduced compared with Controls.