The effect of ethanol upon early development in mice and rats. XVII. In vivo effect of chronic biparental alcoholization upon preimplantation development in rats.

The effect of chronic biparental alcoholization upon preimplantation rat embryos was investigated. On day 5 of pregnancy the following were controlled: developmental stage attained; mean number of embryos/animal; mean number of cells/embryo; mean number of cells/blastocyst; mean number of cells/early blastocyst; oviductal-uterine migration rate and the number of pathological embryos. Chronic biparental alcoholization induced a delay of the onset of cavitation and a significantly increased number of pathological embryos. Chronic biparental alcoholization has a more marked effect than chronic maternal alcoholization. In mice (RAP strain), the same experimental schedule induced more marked effects than in rats.