Ethanol exposure in prenatal and early postnatal induced cardiac injury in rats: involvement of oxidative stress, Hsp70, ERK 1/2, JNK, and apoptosis in a 3-month follow-up study

Abstract

Alcohol exposure during pregnancy induces a wide range of structural and functional abnormalities in the fetal heart. However, the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon is not well known. This study was undertaken to elucidate probable mechanisms of myocardial damage induced by prenatal and early postnatal ethanol treatment. Pregnant Wistar rats received ethanol 4.5 g/kg BW once per day from the seventh day of gestation (GD7) throughout lactation. The oxidative stress injury of the myocardium in pups was evaluated by measuring levels of oxidative stress biomarkers. Histopathological examinations and Western blot were performed to evaluate histological features, apoptosis, and molecular alterations in the myocardial tissue of male pups on the postnatal day 21 (PN-21) and postnatal day 90 (PN-90). The results showed that maternal ethanol consumption caused oxidative stress (impaired total antioxidant capacity and malondialdehyde), histological changes, and apoptosis of the myocardium in the pups on PN-21 and PN-90. At the molecular levels, Western blot analysis revealed that ethanol modulated the protein expression of p-ERK1/2, p-JNK, and Hsp70 in the myocardial tissue of the pups after 21 and 90 days of birth compared with the controls. These findings revealed that maternal ethanol intake induced cardiac toxicity in part, mediated by oxidative stress and apoptosis in the pups. A further mechanism study revealed that ethanol enhanced ERK1/2 and JNK phosphorylation and Hsp70 protein expression.

Development of the Heart Muscle after Antenatal Ethanol Intoxication during the Neonatal Period

“…28,29 The results concerning the delay in the postnatal development of the offspring that underwent antenatal ethanol intoxication are reliable. This is confirmed by the data of statistical processing of our material, similar results obtained in the clinic and experiment, 25,26,30 as well as obtained by us electron microscopic data.…”

Natural self‐emulsifying reversible hybrid‐hydrogel delivery (N'SERH) of tocopherol enhances bioavailability and modulates alcohol‐induced reproductive toxicity in rats

“…α‐Toc‐treated animals, on the other hand, showed low MDA levels, with a more significant effect for the formulated α‐Toc‐treated animals, probably due to the increased activity of the endogenous antioxidants contributed by enhanced bioavailability of the formulation. Shirpoor et al (2019) has reported the reproductive toxicity alleviating effect of α‐Toc as evidenced by the modulation of testes damage induced by maternal ethanol consumption.…”

“…Shirpoor et al (2019) has reported the reproductive toxicity alleviating effect of α-Toc as evidenced by the modulation of testes damage induced by maternal ethanol consumption.Histopathology analysis of the testes tissue samples of various groups of animals has further demonstrated the protective role of α-Toc and the enhanced efficacy of the α-Toc formulation against the alcohol-induced reproductive toxicity, as evident from the histogram of the group IV animals which were morphologically closer to the control group. The enhanced beneficial effects of α-Toc formulation may be dedicated to its enhanced bioavailability and cellular uptake as revealed from the analysis of α-Toc content in plasma and testes tissue samples.…”

The impacts of garlic and voluntary training alone or together on myocardial miR-126 and miR-210 gene expressions and angiogenesis in healthy rats

“…The animals were kept in a room under environmental controlled conditions including temperature (24±2°C) and light–dark cycle (12-h) and also allowed free access to commercially standard regular rat normal diet for 24 h per day, including (1) carbohydrate 60% (w/w), (2) fat 2% (w/w), (3) protein 17.5% (w/w), and (4) fiber 8% (w/w), and (5) water ad libitum . Twenty-eight male Wistar rats 3-4 months of age and weighing 200-250 gram 16 were randomly divided into four groups (n= 7): (1) Control, (2) Garlic, (3) Exercise and (4) Garlic+Exercise. In the current study sample size was defined based on our similar previous investigations.…”