Search

We examined whether an early-life event - ethanol exposure in the initial stages of pregnancy - affected offspring brain structure, energy metabolism, and body composition in later life. Consumption of 10% (v/v) ethanol by inbred C57BL/6J female mice from 0.5 to 8.5 days post coitum was used to model alcohol exposure during the first 3-4 weeks of gestation in humans, when pregnancy is not typically recognized. At adolescence (postnatal day [P] 28) and adulthood (P64), the brains of male offspring were scanned ex vivo using ultra-high field (16.4 T) magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. Energy metabolism and body composition were measured in adulthood by indirect calorimetry and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), respectively. Ethanol exposure had no substantial impact on white matter organization in the anterior commissure, corpus callosum, hippocampal commissure, internal capsule, optic tract, or thalamus. Whole brain volume and the volumes of the neocortex, cerebellum, and caudate putamen were also unaffected. Subtle, but non-significant, effects were observed on the hippocampus and the hypothalamus in adult ethanol-exposed male offspring. Ethanol exposure was additionally associated with a trend toward decreased oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, and reduced daily energy expenditure, as well as significantly increased adiposity, albeit with normal body weight and food intake, in adult male offspring. In summary, ethanol exposure restricted to early gestation had subtle long-term effects on the structure of specific brain regions in male offspring. The sensitivity of the hippocampus to ethanol-induced damage is reminiscent of that reported by other studies - despite differences in the level, timing, and duration of exposure - and likely contributes to the cognitive impairment that characteristically results from prenatal ethanol exposure. The hypothalamus plays an important role in regulating metabolism and energy homeostasis. Our finding of altered daily energy expenditure and adiposity in adult ethanol-exposed males is consistent with the idea that central nervous system abnormalities also underpin some of the metabolic phenotypes associated with ethanol exposure in pregnancy., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Tomographic imaging of the brain was performed using a rotating slant hole collimator and [123I]N-isopropyl p-iodoamphetamine (IMP) in normal subjects (n = 6) and patients with either Alzheimer's disease (n = 5) or multiple infarct dementia (n = 3). Four blinded observers were asked to make a diagnosis from the images. Normal subjects and patients with multiple infarct dementia were correctly identified. Alzheimer's disease was diagnosed in three of the five patients with this disease. One patient with early Alzheimer's disease was classified as normal by two of the four observers. Another patient with Alzheimer's disease had an asymmetric distribution of IMP and was incorrectly diagnosed as multiple infarct dementia by all four observers. Limited angle tomography of the cerebral distribution of 123I appears to be a useful technique for the evaluation of demented patients.

Both generalized and focal seizures dissociate brain polyribosomes and severely inhibit brain protein synthesis. This effect is found in freely convulsing animals and in animals that have been paralyzed and oxygen-ventilated in order to prevent hypoxemia, cerebral hypoxia, and other systemic changes associated with convulsions. Recent autoradiographic studies have shown that generalized seizures can result in striking focal inhibition of brain protein synthesis in adult rats and newborn marmoset monkeys. Local cerebral glucose metabolism and local cerebral blood flow were also studied in newborn marmosets by autoradiography. Although flow and metabolism are closely matched in control marmosets, seizures result in large local increases in 2-deoxyglucose metabolism, with lesser or no increases in local cerebral blood flow resulting in a relative mismatch. Those regions in which protein synthesis was most severely inhibited were those in which the relative mismatch between blood flow and metabolism was most marked. The molecular mechanisms regulating protein biosynthesis are not known. Translational regulation during seizures appears to be exerted, in large part, at the initiation step. A likely mechanism is the inhibition of ternary complex formation, one of the early steps in the initiation process, by increases in the intracellular ratio of [GDP]:[GTP]. This ratio is related to the cells' energy charge. Reduced levels of ATP during seizures can lead to an increased ratio of [GDP]:[GTP] via of the enzyme nucleoside diphosphate kinase (E.C. 2.7.4.6) and to inhibition of protein synthesis initiation. Regulation of protein biosynthesis during seizures is likely to be complex and exerted at many sites; some of these possibilities are discussed.