Fetal alcohol syndrome is a term used to describe the birth defects associated with maternal ethanol use during pregnancy. Ethanol, a rapidly biotransformed compound, is currently the only biochemical marker used to detect maternal ethanol use during pregnancy. A minor pathway of ethanol biotransformation is the nonoxidative enzymatic reaction which leads to esterification of free fatty acids with the ethyl group of ethanol. This research explored the formation of two fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), palmitic acid ethyl ester (PAEE) and stearic acid ethyl ester (SAEE), in the pregnant rat and its offspring. In this acute study, pregnant (gestational day 9) Long-Evans rats were dosed 5 g/kg with ethanol (25%) p.o., and animals were sacrificed at 15, 30, 60, 120, 240, 480, and 720 min postdose. Tissues removed for PAEE and SAEE analysis included maternal blood, liver, brain, and fetal/ placental tissue. Analysis for the FAEEs was accomplished using a one-step liquid-liquid extraction. The extracts were then...