This research was designed to study the perinatal and
postweaning effects of the interaction between ethanol and low
dietary zinc during gestation and lactation in the rat.
Pregnant rats were fed liquid diets containing either 2 or 10
μg zinc/ml with or without 30% of kcal from ethanol throughout
gestation and lactation. The liquid diet formulation was
nutritionally adequate to insure offspring growth and survival
during lactation. At weaning, dams and five of eight offspring from
each litter were killed by exsanguination under sodium pentobarbital
anesthesia. The remaining offspring were orally inoculated with
Streptococcus mutans and fed a caries-promoting diet for six weeks.
The low zinc diet produced a moderate zinc deficiency in dams
as evidenced by a decrease in tissue zinc content, serum alkaline phosphatase activity, and urinary zinc concentration. Despite the
presence of high zinc content in the diet, ethanol antagonized
maternal zinc status to a level typical of that produced by the low
zinc diet. The lowest zinc status, however, was found when low
dietary zinc and ethanol were combined. The maternal interaction
between ethanol and zinc also depressed offspring serum zinc and
alkaline phosphatase activity in a similar manner but the magnitude
was smaller. The maintenance of a lower than normal maternal tissue
zinc and decreased maternal urinary excretion of zinc suggested a
maternal attempt to support the growth and development of offspring
despite zinc deficiency.
Physiological consequences of ethanol-antagonized zinc status
were evidenced by depressed activity of maternal and offspring serum
alkaline phosphatase, increased maternal urinary excretion of
hydroxyproline, decreased offspring molar enamel and dentin zinc
content, increased dental caries score, and decreased cross-linking
structure of mandibular second molar enamel.
The liquid diet developed in the present study was
nutritionally adequate and allowed for the investigation of a single
nutrient deficiency, zinc, in ethanol fed rats during gestation and
lactation without confounding effects of general malnutrition.
Although the direction of interaction was predominately an effect of
ethanol on zinc rather than the effect of zinc on ethanol, this
study clearly indicates that zinc deficiency is an important
consequence of maternal ethanol ingestion. / Graduation date: 1984
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/27147 |
| Date | 22 February 1984 |
| Creators | Yeh, Lee-chuan C. |
| Contributors | Cerklewski, Florian L. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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