Caspase-3 and calpain activities after acute and repeated ethanol administration during the rat brain growth spurt

Ethanol administration during the rat brain growth spurt triggers apoptotic neurodegeneration that appears to be mediated by caspase-3 activation. In order to gain more insight on the role of this caspase in ethanol-induced developmental neurotoxicity, we studied its expression and activity under different conditions of ethanol exposure during development. Furthermore, because of the cross-talk between caspase-3 and calpain we extended our study also at this protease. Ethanol was administered by gavage to rat pups as a single-day exposure on postnatal day (PN) 7 or from PN4 to PN10. Cleaved caspase-3 expression peaked in the cerebral cortex 12 h after ethanol treatment and returned to control values at 24 h. An identical pattern was found for caspase-3-like activity, that was increased only with the highest dose of ethanol tested (5 g/kg) and mostly in PN4. Repeated ethanol exposure, at a dose that was previously found to induce microencephaly, did not increase caspase-3 expression and activity although it decreased procaspase-3 expression and released mitochondrial cytochrome c. Repeated ethanol administration also increased calpain activity. These data show that acute and repeated ethanol administration differentially affect caspase-3 and calpain activity, suggesting that calpain activation may play a role in developmental neurotoxicity of ethanol.