Effects of maternal ethanol intake on second alcoholic generation murine skull and mandibular size

Background: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) represents an important array of a bnormalities in the development of offspring born of alcoholic mothers, Thi s investigation used a murine Balb/cJ model to investigate the effects of m aternal ethanol intake on craniomandibular and long bone development, Methods: Experimental 8-week-old female mice (daughters of alcoholic female mice) drank an ethanol solution increasing from 1 - 20%, and 6 weeks later were mated with non-alcoholic males, The control group consisted of normal Balb/cJ male and female mice that drank water without ethanol, Alcohol int ake was suspended at delivery, and 90 puppies (second alcoholic generation) were sacrificed at 14.5, 21.5 and 28.5 postnatal days, Measurements of cra niofacial structures and long bones were done blindly by means of a standar dized method, Results: Our results indicate that maternal ethanol intake had a significan t deleterious effect on craniofacial development, since litters from alcoho lic mothers had smaller dimensions compared with non-alcoholic control pupp ies, No statistically significant results were obtained from long bone meas urements, Conclusions: Even though the mechanism that accounts for these changes is n ot fully explained by our results, we hypothesize that the reduction of cep halometric dimensions found in this study could be a manifestation of disor ganized neural and mesenchymal development.