ETHANOL-INDUCED DECREASES IN MEMBRANE LONG-CHAIN UNSATURATED FATTY-ACIDS CORRELATE WITH IMPAIRED CHICK BRAIN-DEVELOPMENT

Exposure to ethanol at 0 days of development induced changes in total membrane fatty acid composition at 18 days of development. When expose d to ethanol concentrations ranging from 0-143.27 mu m/kg egg wt, decr eased levels of long-chain, unsaturated membrane fatty acids and incre ased levels of short-chain, saturated membrane fatty acids were observ ed in embryonic chick brains at 18 days of development. The ratios of unsaturated membrane/saturated membrane fatty acids correlated with an ethanol-induced reduction in neuron densities within the cerebral hem ispheres and three different regions of the optic lobes with correlati on coefficients (r) ranging from 0.44 [F = (1, 32) 7.84; P less than o r equal to 0.009] to 0.59 [F = (1, 32) 17.38; P less than or equal to 0.0002]. The ratios of long-chain/short-chain membrane fatty acids als o correlated with an ethanol-induced reduction in neuron densities wit hin the cerebral hemispheres and three different regions of the optic lobes with correlation coefficients (r) ranging from 0.51 [F = (1, 32) 11.27; P less than or equal to 0.002] to 0.66 [F = (1, 32) 24.40; P l ess than or equal to 0.0001]. Cell fractionation studies indicated tha t the ethanol-induced changes in brain membrane fatty acid composition were restricted to microsomal membranes. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Inc.