Fetal Alcohol Effects: Evidence of Developmental Impairment in the Absence of Immunotoxicity

Impaired development of mitochondria plays a role in the central nervous system defects of fetal alcohol syndrome

“…In this research, we have explored the effect of maternal ethanol administration on the development of fetal cerebral mitochondria using a FAS model of the CD‐1 mouse. Many published studies on alcohol's teratogenic action have used this mouse strain and reported positive results (Blakley and Scott, 1984; Guy and Sucheston, 1986; Epstein and Sucheston, 1987; Zidell et al, 1988; Zucker et al, 1999). In our previous studies (Xu et al, 2004), we also a found good dose‐effect relationship in the ethanol‐related malformations of the CD‐1 mouse.…”

“…For the control group, 0.9% NaCl in distilled water was administered instead. The ethanol doses adopted here were in the range of published regimens with CD‐1 mice (Perez et al, 1983; Blakley and Scott, 1984; Guy and Sucheston, 1986; Epstein and Sucheston, 1987; Zidell et al, 1988; Paulson et al, 1992; Weston et al, 1994; Pastor et al, 2002), the CNS defects ratios of which were suitable for this research.…”

Adverse health outcomes associated with fetal alcohol exposure: A systematic review focused on immune‐related outcomes

“…However, some studies found that PAE actually augmented the immune response, 29,30 often in response to a postnatal stress or insult, 31,32 while a few studies reported no change in immunocompetency. 33 There was also evidence that altered immune responses were transient, with pre-weanling, juvenile or adolescent PAE offspring exhibiting alterations that were normalized by adulthood. 29,[34][35][36][37] There was also some evidence for alterations to the humoral immune response, with changes in peripheral or central cytokine production, [38][39][40] although other studies reported no change.…”