Effects of ethanol on cultured embryonic neurons from the cerebral cortex of the rat

Abstract

Fetal alcohol syndrome is a serious disorder that causes lifelong learning, memory, and behavioral problems. In the current study, we determined the ethanol concentrations that produced detrimental effects on the development of embryonic cortical neurons because mental capacity seems to be proportional to the level of dendritic arborization. Neurons from fetal rat cortices were grown in culture in close proximity to a glial plane. The cells were treated with concentrations of ethanol ranging from 450 nM to 45 mM, and neurite outgrowth was subsequently quantified. A significant decrease in dendritic branching was observed at ethanol concentrations as low as 45 μM after 6 days of ethanol exposure in vitro, whereas changes in primary neurite outgrowth were observed at an ethanol concentration of 4.5 μM. This finding is of particular interest as it seems to indicate that occasional ethanol exposure is detrimental to cortical development at very low concentrations of ethanol.