Hepatic glutathione, metallothionein and zinc in the rat on gestational day 19 during chronic ethanol administration.

Ethanol, under certain conditions, alters the metabolism of sulfur amino acids, metallothionein (MT) and zinc. If chronic ethanol administration during pregnancy decreases the availability of sulfur amino acids or Zn, this deficiency could contribute to growth retardation of the fetuses, one of the features of fetal alcohol syndrome. The purpose of this study was to discern whether chronic ethanol administration to pregnant rats alters glutathione (GSH), MT or Zn content of selected tissues of the dams and fetuses. Sprague-Dawley rats were fed from gestational days 5 to 19 either the control diet ad libitum (AF), the ethanol diet ad libitum (EF) or the control diet using the pair-feeding technique (PF). On the 19th day of gestation, total hepatic GSH was significantly lower for the EF and PF dams than for the AF dams. Hepatic MT contents were similar for the AF and EF dams, and hepatic MT content was significantly greater for the PF dams than the AF and EF dams. The three groups did not differ regarding hepatic Zn content of dams or fetuses. In summary, on the 19th day of gestation, chronic ethanol feeding of pregnant rats did not lower the maternal hepatic GSH level below that of PF dams, did not induce hepatic MT in the dams and did not prevent fetuses from achieving body weights and hepatic Zn concentrations equal to those of controls.