Ethanol-induced chromosomal abnormalities at conception.

Preliminary findings have indicated that mouse eggs exposed briefly in vivo or in vitro to a dilute solution of ethanol activate parthenogenetically. Cytogenetic analysis of the first-cleavage chromosomes of haploid parthenogenetic embryos indicated that up to 20% of this population were aneuploid as a result of non-disjunction. Anaesthetics also can induce parthenogenesis of rodent eggs, and in studies using anaesthetics, colchicine and colcemid, abnormal chromosome segregation and heteroploidy of rodent embryos have been observed. I now report that when recently mated female mice are given a dilute solution of ethanol by mouth, non-disjunction can be induced in the female-derived, but apparently not in the male-derived, chromosome set of fertilized eggs. Taken together, these findings suggest that ethanol consumption (as well as exposure to other 'spindle-acting' agents) at the time of conception may be the cause of certain types of chromosomal defects commonly observed in human spontaneous abortions.