Prenatal ethanol administration: effects on IgG absorption during postnatal development in the rat intestine

The effect of feeding 1 ml of 30% ethanol to pregnant female rats during gestation on the IgG absorption has been studied in the developing intestine. Pups born to dams fed ethanol during gestation exhibited a significant decline in body weight (p < 0.01), intestinal weight (p < 0.01), and intestinal length (p < 0.05) as compared with the controls. Intestinal weight to body weight or intestinal weight to intestinal length ratios were essentially similar under these conditions. The intestinal absorption of IgG was considerably reduced in 12-day-old pups (p < 0.01) exposed to ethanol in utero as compared with the control group. A similar decrease in the binding of [(125)I]IgG to microvillus membranes was observed on days 12 and 20 under these conditions. Northern blot analysis revealed low levels of mRNA encoding IgG Fc receptor in ethanol-exposed pups as compared with the controls. These findings suggest that prenatal ethanol ingestion impairs the absorption of IgG as a consequence of the downregulation of IgG Fc receptor expression in the rat intestine.