Effects of late prenatal or early postnatal ethanol exposure on ornithine decarboxylase activity in brain and heart of developing rats

Abstract

Pregnant rats were kept on a liquid diet containing ethanol (6.8% v/v) from the 18th day of gestation, and the developmental pattern of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity was determined for the brain and heart of the offspring. In neonates exposed to ethanol throughout development, both brain and heart ODC activities increased but then declined to normal or subnormal levels; brain weights were not different from controls but heart weights were depressed. Withdrawal from ethanol at birth produced alterations in heart ODC activity similar to those in pups exposed to ethanol continuously. Neonatal withdrawal resulted in no deviations from normal ODC development in brain minus the cerebellum, but in the cerebellum, ODC levels were increased consistently. Postnatal exposure of pups to ethanol caused a decrease in heart weight and ODC activity but no significant change in brain weight or its ODC activity. These data suggest that exposure to ethanol during development produces alterations in polyamine metabolism and organ weight which are dependent upon the duration and age period of exposure.