Effects of ethanol on mouse embryonic brain development and heat shock protein 73 expression.

Effects of ethanol on brain development and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) expression were investigated in mouse embryos using the whole embryo culture, mid-brain culture, and streptavidin-biotin peroxidase complex (SABC) method. In the whole embryo culture, ethanol (1, 2 and 4 mg/ml) inhibited brain development dose dependently and the most prevalent abnormality was the open cephalic neural tube. At doses of 1 and 2 mg/ml, ethanol significantly decreased constitutive HSP70 (HSP73) expression level compared to control values in embryonic brain areas. In mid-brain culture, ethanol exposure (from 1 to 16 mg/ml) during early neuroblast differentiation inhibited neuronal differentiation and proliferation. These results suggest that ethanol may affect embryonic brain development by decreasing HSP73 expression level as well as inhibiting neuronal differentiation and proliferation during the organogenic period.