FAS Abstracts 2004 Meeting Page

Biological Sciences (BIO D): BIO-32

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Dose-dependent effects of ethanol exposure on development in embryonic rat cortical neurons.  S. BINGHAM, L.M. MUDD, T. LOPEZ, and J.R. MONTAGUE.  SNHS-Biology, Barry University 11300 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami Shores, FL 33161.  This study determined the ethanol concentrations that produced detrimental effects on the development of embryonic cortical neurons because mental capacity appears to be proportional to the level of dendritic arborization.  Neurons from fetal rat cortices were grown in culture in close proximity to a glial plane. The cells were treated with concentrations of ethanol from 45 mM to 450 nM, then neurite outgrowth was quantified.  A significant decrease in dendritic branching was observed at ethanol levels as low as 45 µM after 6 days of ethanol exposure in vitro whereas changes in primary neurite outgrowth were observed at an ethanol concentration of 4.5 µM.  This finding is of particular interest as it seems to indicate that that occasional ethanol exposure is detrimental to cortical development at very low concentrations. (funded partly by NIH-NIGMS MBRS Grant, GM 45455 and North Ridge Cancer Foundation, Inc.)