A stage-dependent effect of ethanol on 9.5-day rat embryos grown in culture and the role played by the concomitant rise in osmolality

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Abstract
The effects of ethanol on the rat embryo undergoing organogenesis in vitro have been studied. We have shown that embryopathy is dependent on the stage of development at which explanted embryos were treated. The early neural plate (presomite) stage was highly sensitive to a 4-hour exposure of 300 mg/% ethanol, whereas embryos explanted 5 hours later, at the late head-fold (two to six somites) stage grew normally under the same conditions. We have also established that raised serum osmolality, associated with ethanol in serum, is responsible for some but not all of the teratogenic effect. This was shown by mimicking the rise in osmolality with hyperosmotic serum, containing glycerol, NaCl, or concentrated Hanks' salts. Dilution of this osmotic effect by the addition of distilled water in part reversed these embryopathic effects.