Role of Alcohol-induced Hypothermia in Mediating the Teratogenic Effects of Alcohol in C57BL/6 J Mice

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the role of alcohol-induced maternal hypothermia in the teratogenic actions of alcohol. C57BL/6J mice were administered an acute dose of alcohol (5.8 g/ kg orally) or isocaloric sucrose on day 10 of gestation. One half of each group was placed for 6 hr in an incubator set at 32°C and the other half was housed in the incubator at room temperature (22°C). As expected, acute prenatal alcohol exposure at this time of gestation was associated with decreased birth weight and an increase in limb and kidney malformations. The significant alcohol × environmental temperature interaction on these dependent variables indicated that the teratogenic insult was not attenuated, but was in fact even greater for the 32°C/alcohol group. An absence of a main effect of environmental temperature indicated that the 32°C environment, per se, was not teratogenic. Thus, maternal hypothermia is probably not an etiological factor in animal models of fetal alcohol syndrome. Moreover, antagonism of alcohol-induced maternal hypothermia exacerbates the teratogenic actions of alcohol observed at room temperature.