Ethanol effects on embryonic craniofacial growth and development: implications for study of the fetal alcohol syndrome.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which is brought about by maternal consumption of ethanol during pregnancy, is a major public health problem. To gain understanding of the etiology of this condition, a number of teratological studies have been performed in different animal systems to develop an animal model for FAS. The C57BL/6J mouse strain has been described as susceptible to the teratogenic effects of ethanol, whereas the ICR (CD-1) strain is considered relatively insensitive. We have compared the effects of ethanol on DNA and protein synthesis in cultured embryonic palate mesenchymal cells from both strains to determine if the reported differential sensitivity to ethanol is reflected in differences in ethanol's effects on cell behavior. Chronic exposure to 200 mM ethanol for 48 hr had a strong inhibitory effect on DNA synthesis in palate cells derived from both the C57BL/6J and ICR strains and a significant effect on protein synthesis in C57BL/6J palate cells. When we attempted to verify strain differences in susceptibility to ethanol teratogenesis, we were not able to observe an increased incidence of birth defects due to ethanol in either strain. High doses of ethanol (5.8 g/kg, administered by intraperitoneal injection on gestational day 8) resulted in death in both C57BL/6J and ICR mice. A lower dose (4.8 g/kg) caused decreased fetal weight and increased resorption in both strains, but did not bring about FAS-like craniofacial dysmorphology in either strain. It appears, therefore, that whereas ethanol can significantly affect the behavior of cells derived from craniofacial tissue, these effects cannot be correlated with sensitivity to ethanol teratogenesis in the mouse system.