Effects of maternal ethanol intake on second alcoholic generation murine skull and mandibular size.

BACKGROUND: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) represents an important array of abnormalities in the development of offspring born of alcoholic mothers. This investigation used a murine Balb/cJ model to investigate the effects of maternal ethanol intake on craniomandibular and long bone development.
METHODS: Experimental 8-week-old female mice (daughters of alcoholic female mice) drank an ethanol solution increasing from 1-20%, and 6 weeks later were mated with non-alcoholic males. The control group consisted of normal Balb/cJ male and female mice that drank water without ethanol. Alcohol intake was suspended at delivery, and 90 puppies (second alcoholic generation) were sacrificed at 14.5, 21.5 and 28.5 postnatal days. Measurements of craniofacial structures and long bones were done blindly by means of a standardized method.
RESULTS: Our results indicate that maternal ethanol intake had a significant deleterious effect on craniofacial development, since litters from alcoholic mothers had smaller dimensions compared with non-alcoholic control puppies. No statistically significant results were obtained from long bone measurements.
CONCLUSIONS: Even though the mechanism that accounts for these changes is not fully explained by our results, we hypothesize that the reduction of cephalometric dimensions found in this study could be a manifestation of disorganized neural and mesenchymal development.