Permanent abnormal response to a glucose load after prenatal ethanol exposure in rats

Postnatal development of the glucose and insulin balance in offspring of ethanol-treated and control rats has been studied. Newborn rats were separated from their mothers and placed with normal lactating, nonethanol-treated dams. Prenatal exposure to ethanol led to hypoglycemia on the first day of extrauterine life and a general tendency to hyperinsulinemia during the entire postnatal period studied. The glucose-tolerance test in weaned rats (30 days old) gave a greater and faster increase than controls in levels of both glucose and plasma insulin. At adult age (90 days) the response of blood glucose to an oral glucose load in offspring from ethanol-treated mothers was not different from that in offspring from controls, but the insulin response was higher. This abnormal insulin response, such a long time after the end of ethanol exposure, suggests either a permanent alteration in the pancreatic response, or a peripheral insulin resistance and/or differences in the rate of insulin degradation in these animals.