Cardioteratogenic dose of ethanol in the chick embryo results in albumin ethanol concentrations comparable to human blood alcohol levels

✍ Scribed by Harold J. Bruyere Jr.; Somesh Choudhury; Eric Nelson; Charles E. Stith

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 345 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0260-437X
• DOI: 10.1002/jat.2550140107

✦ Synopsis

Three-day-old chick embryos (Hamburger-Hamilton stages 18-19) were exposed to a dose of ethyl alcohol (0.32 ml of 50% ethanol) that causes cardiac malformations in 96.6% of the animals. Ethanol was administered into the air sac after 72-80 h of incubation. Samples of albumin at the opposite pole of the egg were drawn 0-50 h after treatment and quantitated for ethanol concentration with capillary gasliquid chromatography. Ethanol concentrations in the albumin increased significantly ( P < 0.05) at 2, 5 and 15 h after injection of ethanol, reached a maximum mean ethanol concentration at 20 h (217.3 t 23.5 mg dl-l), decreased significantly at 30 h to 175.4 * 27.5 mg dl-I, then increased again and stabilized at 40-50 h. Individual sample concentrations ranged from 0 mg dl-' (at 0.5-2 h) to 286.5 mg dl-' at 40 h. Ethanol concentrations in the albumin were comparable to human blood alcohol levels during intoxication (> 150 mg dl-I). Our results suggest that a potent cardioteratogenic dose of ethanol in the chick embryo is reasonable in terms of potential human embryo exposure.