Effects of a Single Dose of Ethanol on Survival Rate and Angiogenesis of Chick Embryo

The developing Chick has been widely used as a model organism for research studies in developmental biology. Various aspects of ethanol (EtOH) toxicity during embryonic development have been documented in experimental studies. The studies on chick embryo address the effects of EtOH on craniofacial abnormalities and angiogenesis. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a single dose of ethanol on survival rate and angiogenesis of chick embryos during early stages of development. Chick eggs were incubated at 37oC in the humidified incubator, after 72 hours of incubation these eggs were removed from incubator, and treated with a single doses of 1%, 5%, 10%, 13% and 15% EtOH. The effects on survival rate and angiogenesis were recorded on ethanol treated chick embryos. The survival rate was slightly reduced with 1% and 5% EtOH, however with increasing dose of 10% the survival rate was reduced to 64% and at 15% EtOH complete death was observed. Our results also indicate that treatment of EtOH with 1% and 5% did not have any obvious effects on vessels formation in comparison with the BSS treated embryos. However, treatment of chick embryo with 10%, 13% and 15% EtOH severely inhibited the blood vessels formation.