Effect of Ethanol on Maternal and Offspring Characteristics: Comparison of Three Liquid Diet Formulations Fed during Gestation

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Abstract
Maternal blood alcohol levels, weight gain during pregnancy, parturition time, perinatal mortality, and postnatal growth of offspring were compared in groups of pregnant rats fed one of three ethanol-containing liquid diets (Kahn's formula = BSA diet, Revised Wiener's = RA6 diet, and Lieber-DeCarli's high protein 82C diet = LDA diet). The three ethanol diets all contained the same amount of ethanol-derived energy (36% of total energy), but differed in the amount of energy contributed by protein (17, 30, and 25%), fat (36, 24, and 13%), and carbohydrate (12, 10, and 27%), respectively. The experimental design also included dams that were pair-fed isocaloric ethanol-free versions of the three ethanol diets (designated BSP, RP6, and LDA, respectively) and a group of dams fed a pelleted casein-based solid diet (PC diet). All experimental diets were fed ad libitum from gestational day 7 to delivery. The effect of ethanol exposure in utero was most severe in mothers and offspring fed the BSA diet. The feed efficiency ratio (maternal weight gain/total dietary energy consumed) of this low-protein ethanol diet was less than that of RA6 or LDA diets. The feed efficiency ratio calculated for RA6 and LDA diets was not different from that of PC diet. Compared with rats fed RA6 and LDA diets, the rats that were fed BSA diet exhibited deficient maternal weight gain, greater parturition delay, impaired fetal growth, and increased perinatal mortality among the offspring. BSA dams had the highest blood ethanol levels of all groups fed ethanol diets, and exhibited the least difference in blood ethanol concentrations between the day (2 PM) and night (9 PM) periods of the diurnal cycle.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)