Neurotrophic factors BDNF and GDNF protect embryonic chick spinal cord motoneurons from ethanol neurotoxicity in vivo

Maternal consumption of ethanol is widely recognized as a leading cause of mental and physical deficits. Many populations of the central nervous syste m are affected by the teratogenic effects of ethanol. Neurotrophic factors (NTFs) have been shown to protect against ethanol neurotoxicity in culture, although there have been no demonstrations of such protection in vivo, in specific neuronal populations. Previous studies have demonstrated that etha nol is toxic to developing chick embryo motoneurons when administered from embryonic day 10 (E10) to E15. NTFs such as brain-derived neurotrophic fact or (BDNF) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) have been shown to support developing spinal cord motoneurons, and when exogenously a pplied, decrease naturally occurring cell death, and protect against axotom y. The concurrent delivery of BDNF or GDNF with ethanol to the embryonic ch ick from E10 to E15 was designed to examine the capacity of these NTFs to p rovide in vivo neuroprotection for this ethanol-sensitive motoneuron popula tion. Analysis of motoneuron numbers indicated that both BDNF and GDNF prov ided protection to developing spinal cord motoneurons from ethanol toxicity , restoring motoneuron numbers to control levels. This study represents the first demonstration of in vivo neuroprotection from ethanol toxicity with respect to specific neuronal populations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.