Effect of maternal alcohol consumption on nerve cell development in the offspring.

The effect of prenatal alcohol exposure on nerve cell development was investigated in neurons and glial cells cultured from fetal rat brain. Neurons were grown for one week from two week-old cortical brain cells and glial cells were cultured during four weeks from new born cortical brain cells. Two situations were examined: maternal alcohol treatment before and during pregnancy and alcohol exposure only until the beginning of pregnancy. In both situations we found a delayed nerve cell maturation assessed by biochemical markers like enolase and glutamine synthetase. Alterations of lactate dehydrogenase activity and reduced superoxide dismutase activity, involved in free radicals elimination were also observed. "In vitro" addition of alcohol to the culture medium produced an additional effect showing a lower response in the prenatal alcohol exposed brain cells than in the controls. The results confirm our previous "in vivo" experiments showing long lasting effects of maternal alcohol exposure in the offspring.