Maternal ethanol consumption: effect on skeletal muscle development in guinea pig offspring.

The effect of ethanol on developing skeletal muscle was analyzed by examining the gastrocnemius muscle from newborn guinea pigs, exposed to ethanol during the second half of gestation. Electron microscopy revealed vacuolated sarcoplasmic reticula, enlarged lipid droplets, decreased glycogen and mitochondrial abnormalities in the skeletal muscle samples from the ethanol-exposed newborn guinea pigs. None of these abnormalities were seen in the newborn controls who were born to dams which consumed the same amount of calories as the ethanol-treated dams. The ethanol-associated abnormalities, seen in this study, are similar to those seen in ultrastructural examination of skeletal muscle from chronic alcoholics.