Failure of ethanol to induce dominant lethal mutations in Wistar male rats.

2 groups of Wistar male rats (6-7 weeks old) were given ethanol, 15% in drinking water, for 5 days. The level of ethanol was gradually raised to 20 and 30% resp. Both groups received ethanol between 15 and 20% or 15 and 30% continuously during 35 days. Another group was given 30% ethanol for a period of 4 days before mating started. In addition to a control group, which received no treatment, a positive control group of rats exposed to 200 R X-rays, was used. After the treatments, individual males were paired with virgin Wistar females (10-12 weeks) at weekly intervals, and 8 sequential pairings were undertaken. Females were examined for uterine contents and corpora lutea, 10-11 days after their separation from the males. The females mated with irradiated males showed a high incidence of dead implantations and reduction of live implantations. No significant differences in the number of dead, live and total implantations at pre- and/or post-implantation levels were observed among the control and the ethanolic groups, showing that ethanol did not induce any dominant lethal mutations in these Wistar male rats. In the light of studies on alcoholics and other recent data, a need to investigate, independently, the potential mutagenic effects of ethanol and alcoholic beverages is discussed.