Ethanol embryotoxicity: direct effects on mammalian embryos in vitro.

Exposure to ethanol retards growth and differentiation in cultured rat embryos during organogenesis. The development of untreated embryos is indistinguishable from growth in utero. These data suggest that the hypoplastic features of children born to chronically alcoholic mothers are due, at least in part, to a direct action of ethanol, which causes reduced embryonic cellular proliferation early in gestation.