Effects of Ethanol on Muscarinic Receptor-Stimulated

The pattern of muscarinic receptor-stimulated inositol metabo-lism during postnatal development has a striking resemblance with the curve of rat brain growth spurt. Therefore, the enhanced hydrolysis of membrane inositol lipids by cholinergic agonists during this period may have a relevant role in cell proliferation and differentiation. In this study we have investigated whether exposure to EtOH to rat pups during the brain growth spurt, known to cause a permanent microencephaly, would after mus-carinic receptor-stimulated inositol metabolism in cerebral cortex. Female Long-Evans rats were administered 4 g/kg of EtOH, in two doses of 2 9/kg, by gastric intubation from postnatal day 4 to day 10. This treatment did not have any effect on the pups’ body weight as compared to an equally handled, sucrose-fed group of animals. Blood EtOH concentration in the pups durin