Alcohol Augments Fetal Skeletal Malformations in Diabetic Pregnancy

Maternal alcohol consumption and pregnancy in diabetes mellitus (DM) are independent risk factors for offspring maldevelopment. DM women might consume alcohol during pregnancy. We aimed to determine the effects of potential interaction between acute doses of alcohol and maternal DM during gestation on fetal skeletal development. Mice were made diabetic with streptozotocin on gestation day (GD) 2. Single doses of 25%v/v of absolute alcohol in saline was administered (0.03 ml/g body weight) to groups of DM and non‐DM animals on GD 7 or 8. One group of DM animals were treated with insulin. Skeletons of GD 18 fetuses were stained with Alizarin red‐S and Alcian blue. Both ethanol alone and DM alone induced a low incidence of skull bones hypoplasia and vertebral defects. Ethanol injection of DM mice on GD 7 resulted in accentuation of DM‐related skeletal defects. Treatment on GD 8 resulted in defects of axial and appendicular skeletons differentially. Combination treatment induced markedly poor ossification in about 60% of animals. Alcohol also augmented frequency of supernumerary ribs and sternal anomalies and induced poor ossification of bones of paws. These data suggest that alcohol affects developmental processes of mesoderm of embryos of diabetic mouse resulting in augmentation of skeletal malformations. (Support: ETSU & UAEU)