ACUTE TREATMENT OF PATERNAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE PRODUCES MALFORMATIONS IN OFFSPRING

Male rats were intubated only once with either 6, 4, 2, or 0 g/kg alco hol. Food was removed from all animals for several hours after intubat ion. Males were bred with a single female until sperm was observed in the vaginal smear, for up to a maximum of 7 days after treatment. Fema les were sacrificed on gestation day 20. There were no significant eff ects on mating, fecundity, or litter size, but there were significant dose-response increases in ''runts'' and significant linear associatio ns in the number of malformations in alcohol-shed offspring. A second study using the same methodology found similar results. The results in dicate that a single acute treatment with alcohol just prior to breedi ng may have a significant effect on offspring. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce Inc.