PMID- 8865973
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19970206
LR  - 20190826
IS  - 0145-6008 (Print)
IS  - 0145-6008 (Linking)
VI  - 20
IP  - 5
DP  - 1996 Aug
TI  - Effect of chronic maternal ethanol administration on nitric oxide synthase 
      activity in the hippocampus of the mature fetal guinea pig.
PG  - 948-53
AB  - Nitric oxide is a novel messenger that is involved in neuronal cell-cell 
      communication and seems to play a neurotrophic role in normal brain development. 
      Chronic prenatal ethanol exposure can produce central nervous system (CNS) 
      teratogenesis, in which one of the target sites is the hippocampus. The main 
      objective of our study was to test the following hypothesis: chronic maternal 
      administration of an ethanol dosage regimen that produces CNS teratogenesis 
      decreases nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in the fetal hippocampus. The 
      ontogeny of NOS activity in the hippocampus of the developing guinea pig was 
      further elucidated at two prenatal and two postnatal ages. The effects of chronic 
      maternal oral administration of 4 g of ethanol/kg maternal body weight/day, 
      isocaloric sucrose and pair feeding, or water [given as two equally divided doses 
      2 hr apart from gestational day (GD) 2 to GD 61] on body, brain, and hippocampal 
      weights and hippocampal NOS activity were determined in the mature fetal guinea 
      pig at GD 62 (term, about GD 68). NOS activity in the 25,000 x g supernatant 
      fraction of hippocampal homogenate was measured using an optimized radiometric 
      assay, based on the oxidation of L-[14C]arginine to L-[14C]citrulline. For the 
      chronic ethanol regimen, the maternal blood ethanol concentration at 1 hr after 
      the second divided dose on GD 57 was 157 +/- 45 mg/dl. Chronic maternal 
      administration of ethanol decreased fetal body, brain, and hippocampal weights, 
      compared with the isocaloric-sucrose/pair-fed and water treatment groups. The 
      rate of L-[14C]citrulline formation and NOS activity in the fetal hippocampus 
      were decreased in the ethanol treatment group, compared with the 
      isocaloric-sucrose/ pair-fed and water treatment groups. There was no difference 
      in the rate of L-[14C]citrulline formation, NOS activity, and fetal hippocampal 
      and body weights between the isocaloric-sucrose/pair-fed and water treatment 
      groups; however, fetal brain weight was decreased in the isocaloric-sucrose 
      group, compared with the water group. Data of this study support the research 
      hypothesis by demonstrating that chronic maternal administration of ethanol 
      decreases fetal hippocampal NOS activity that is correlated with restricted 
      growth of this brain region.
FAU - Kimura, K A
AU  - Kimura KA
AD  - Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Queen's 
      University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
FAU - Parr, A M
AU  - Parr AM
FAU - Brien, J F
AU  - Brien JF
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - England
TA  - Alcohol Clin Exp Res
JT  - Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research
JID - 7707242
RN  - 3K9958V90M (Ethanol)
RN  - EC 1.14.13.39 (Nitric Oxide Synthase)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Animals, Newborn
MH  - Ethanol/toxicity
MH  - Female
MH  - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders/*enzymology/pathology
MH  - Guinea Pigs
MH  - Hippocampus/*enzymology/pathology
MH  - Male
MH  - Neurons/enzymology/pathology
MH  - Nitric Oxide Synthase/*metabolism
MH  - Organ Size/drug effects
MH  - Pregnancy
EDAT- 1996/08/01 00:00
MHDA- 1996/08/01 00:01
CRDT- 1996/08/01 00:00
PHST- 1996/08/01 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1996/08/01 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1996/08/01 00:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1996.tb05276.x [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1996 Aug;20(5):948-53. doi: 
      10.1111/j.1530-0277.1996.tb05276.x.