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

✍ Scribed by Harold J. Bruyere Jr.; Ram P. Kapil

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 267 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0260-437X
• DOI: 10.1002/jat.2550100113

✦ Synopsis

Three-day-old chick embryos were exposed to a dose of ethyl alcohol (0.32 ml of 50% ethanol) that we previously demonstrated produces cardiac malformations in 96.6% of the animals. Ethanol was administered into the air sac at 7 2 8 0 h of incubation. Samples of egg white were drawn at 2, 6 and 24 h after treatment and analyzed by capillary gas-liquid chromatography. Ethanol concentrations were significantly higher at 6 and 24 h after exposure than at 2 h ( P < 0.01), but there were no differences in mean concentrations between 6 and 24 h ( P > 0.2). Furthermore, concentrations (43-303 mg dl-') were comparable to human blood alcohol levels during intoxication. These results suggest that the cardioteratogenic doses of ethanol administered to chick embryos in a previous study are not excessive in terms of potential human embryo exposure.