A study of the pathogenesis of fetal damage caused by ethanol in the experimental mouse
type: CreativeWork
description: In an attempt to determine mechanisms of certain aspects of ethanol- induced fetal damage, I have established a mouse model of the fetal alcohol syndrome based on the work of Chernoff (1977), using inbred C3H mice. Ethanol or its metabolite, acetaldehyde, was administered to female mice prior to and throughout gestation. Ethanol in doses of 6%, 10% and 20% ethanol derived calories and acetaldehyde 3. 9 mg and 11. 8 mg were administered daily in a nutritionally balanced liquid diet. An acute dose study was also undertaken, in which pregnant C3H mice were given. "binge" doses of 1ml of a 7. 35% solution of ethanol, twice daily through an orogastric tube, on days one and eight or four and twelve of gestation. The mice were sacrificed on day eighteen of gestation and the fetuses weighed and examined macroscopically. Some were sectioned using Wilson's method of free-hand razor blade sectioning (Barrow and Taylor, 1969), and the skeletons of the others were examined using a modified Dawson's method of skeletal preparation (Richmond and Bennett, 1938). A separate in vitro model based on the work of New (1967) was established, in which embryos of eight or nine days' gestation were explanted with visceral yolk sac intact from normal C3H mice. They were cultured for twenty-eight hours in rat serum containing various concentrations of ethanol or acetaldehyde (ethanol 1500, 3000 and 6000mg/l and acetaldehyde 7.4, 19. 7 and 39.4mg/l). During the last four hours of the culture period the embryos were labelled with one microcurie of tritiated thymidine (specific activity 5curies/mmol). At the end of the culture period the embryos were assessed morphologically, and then prepared for liquid-scintillation counting to determine DNA synthesis by measuring tritiated thymidine uptake. Small numbers of embryos from each group were used for autoradiographic studies in an attempt to quantitate the uptake of label in the various parts of the embryo. I found that ethanol given in chronic dosa…
abstract: In an attempt to determine mechanisms of certain aspects of ethanol- induced fetal damage, I have established a mouse model of the fetal alcohol syndrome based on the work of Chernoff (1977), using inbred C3H mice. Ethanol or its metabolite, acetaldehyde, was administered to female mice prior to and throughout gestation. Ethanol in doses of 6%, 10% and 20% ethanol derived calories and acetaldehyde 3. 9 mg and 11. 8 mg were administered daily in a nutritionally balanced liquid diet. An acute dose study was also undertaken, in which pregnant C3H mice were given. "binge" doses of 1ml of a 7. 35% solution of ethanol, twice daily through an orogastric tube, on days one and eight or four and twelve of gestation. The mice were sacrificed on day eighteen of gestation and the fetuses weighed and examined macroscopically. Some were sectioned using Wilson's method of free-hand razor blade sectioning (Barrow and Taylor, 1969), and the skeletons of the others were examined using a modified Dawson's method of skeletal preparation (Richmond and Bennett, 1938). A separate in vitro model based on the work of New (1967) was established, in which embryos of eight or nine days' gestation were explanted with visceral yolk sac intact from normal C3H mice. They were cultured for twenty-eight hours in rat serum containing various concentrations of ethanol or acetaldehyde (ethanol 1500, 3000 and 6000mg/l and acetaldehyde 7.4, 19. 7 and 39.4mg/l). During the last four hours of the culture period the embryos were labelled with one microcurie of tritiated thymidine (specific activity 5curies/mmol). At the end of the culture period the embryos were assessed morphologically, and then prepared for liquid-scintillation counting to determine DNA synthesis by measuring tritiated thymidine uptake. Small numbers of embryos from each group were used for autoradiographic studies in an attempt to quantitate the uptake of label in the various parts of the embryo. I found that ethanol given in chronic dosa…
author: Thompson, Patricia Anne Curgenven
language: eng
date published: 1981
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:36Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Division of Chemical Pathology

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property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27501