Alcohol-related birth defects in long- and short-sleep mice: Postnatal litter mortality

Alcohol sensitivity may influence the severity of alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD). To examine this hypothesis, pregnancy outcome and offspring development were examined in alcohol-sensitive Long-Sleep (LS) mice and alcohol-resistant Short-Sleep (SS) mice following prenatal ethanol exposure. Dams were intragastrically intubated twice per day (6 hr apart) with either 4.5 g/kg (20% w/v) ethanol (E) or an isocaloric amount of sucrose (S) on days 7 through 18 of pregnancy. An untreated control group (C) was maintained for each line. Results showed litter mortality at 10 days of age was greater for LS-E litters compared to both LS-S and LS-C litters. Litter mortality for SS-E litters did not differ from either SS-S or SS-C litters. Maternal weight gain, blood ethanol levels, and birth weight deficits were similar for ethanol-exposed LS and SS groups. These results suggest genetically based alcohol sensitivity influences the severity of ARBD.