Background: Alcohol consumption in pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular abnormalities, but the mechanisms are unknown. This study evaluated the impact of ethanol exposure on the offspring's aorta structural, functional, and molecular alterations on postnatal (PN) both on days 21 and 90.
Methods: This experimental study was conducted at Urmia University of Medical Sciences (Urmia, Iran) in 2019. Twenty Pregnant Wistar rats on the seventh day of Gestation Day (GD) were randomly divided into two groups: control and ethanol-treated groups (n=10 per group). From the seventh day of GD throughout lactation, rats in the ethanol group were fed binge alcohol (4.5 g/Kg body weight) once daily. Systemic hemodynamic variables in the offspring were analyzed using waveform contour analysis 90 days after birth. On postnatal days (PN) 21 and 90, aorta wall histological alterations and the level of inflammatory factors were assessed in the aorta of male offspring. The statistical differences were examined via an independent samples t test. P<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
Results: The results revealed that offspring in the ethanol group had higher systolic, diastolic, mean arterial pressure, and dicrotic pressure than the control group (P<0.001). The level of aorta tissue tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, nuclear factor (NF)-κ, and endothelin-1 were significantly higher in the ethanol offspring group than in the control group (P<0.001). Histopathological changes such as total aorta thickness, tunica media, tunica adventitia, elastin fiber thickness, fiber interval, and elastin/media ratio significantly increased in the aorta of the offspring of the ethanol group compared to the control group 21 and 90 days after birth.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that prenatal and early postnatal ethanol exposure-induced cardiovascular abnormalities are, in part, due to predisposing the aorta to atherosclerosis, which was mediated through the aorta wall remodeling and inflammation process.
Keywords: Aorta; Blood pressure; Ethanol; Pregnancy; Rat.
Copyright: © Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences.