Nakatsuji N
Teratology. 1983 Oct;28(2):299-305. doi: 10.1002/tera.1420280220.
The principal features of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) include microcephaly, reduced body size, and characteristic facial malformation, most of which are associated with hypoplasticity of structures around the mouth. A recent study using pregnant mice suggested that the malformations in FAS are caused by the effects of ethanol on early embryos during gastrulation and neurulation. Exposure of Xenopus laevis early embryos to 1-2% ethanol until they developed to the late neurula stage produced craniofacial malformations in tadpoles which have many similarities with the described features of FAS. They include reduced length of brain, reduced body size, and hypoplasticity of the anterior end of the body around the mouth. Size reduction from the control group was about 20% in the mouth region, and 10% in other head regions. Ethanol inhibited migration of mesodermal cells toward the animal pole during gastrulation, thus inducing a smaller neural plate with reduced anterior-posterior length. These very early effects of ethanol in development seem to produce various craniofacial malformations in tadpoles, and possibly also in human infants with FAS. In contrast to mammalian embryos, one can conveniently study in detail the effects of ethanol on morphogenetic movements in various in vitro experiments by using a large number of amphibian embryos. Thus, amphibian embryos represent a valuable animal model for the study of mechanisms of the teratogenic effects of ethanol.
胎儿酒精综合征（FAS）的主要特征包括小头畸形、体型减小以及典型的面部畸形，其中大多数与口腔周围结构发育不全有关。最近一项以怀孕小鼠为对象的研究表明，FAS中的畸形是由乙醇在原肠胚形成和神经胚形成期间对早期胚胎的影响所导致的。将非洲爪蟾早期胚胎暴露于1%-2%的乙醇中，直至其发育到神经胚后期，会导致蝌蚪出现颅面畸形，这些畸形与FAS所描述的特征有许多相似之处。它们包括脑长度缩短、体型减小以及口腔周围身体前端发育不全。与对照组相比，口腔区域尺寸减小约20%，其他头部区域尺寸减小10%。乙醇在原肠胚形成期间抑制中胚层细胞向动物极迁移，从而诱导形成前后长度减小的较小神经板。乙醇在发育过程中的这些早期影响似乎会在蝌蚪中产生各种颅面畸形，在患有FAS的人类婴儿中可能也会如此。与哺乳动物胚胎不同，通过使用大量两栖类胚胎，人们可以在各种体外实验中方便地详细研究乙醇对形态发生运动的影响。因此，两栖类胚胎是研究乙醇致畸作用机制的一种有价值的动物模型。
