Development of glial cells cultured from prenatally alcohol treated rat brain: effect of supplementation of the maternal alcohol diet with a grape extract.

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of supplementation of a maternal alcohol diet with a grape extract on glial cell development. Glial cells were cultured during 4 weeks from cortical brain cells of the new born offspring in DMEM medium supplemented with fetal calf serum. Enzymatic markers of nerve cell development were measured (enolase isoenzymes and glutamine synthetase). Since alcohol consumption produces free radicals the antioxidant system superoxide dismutase was also investigated. Compared to the decrease found in only alcohol treated animals, all parameters except neuron-specific enolase were antagonized and even stimulated after grape extract supplementation. The effect was more important after only 1 month than 3 months of treatment. Also in the total brain an alcohol antagonizing effect and a glutamine synthetase activation were found. Our data demonstrate that addition of a grape extract to the maternal alcohol diet may partially or completely overcome the alcohol induced retardation of glial cell development.