Reduction of rat pineal N-acetyltransferase activity by fetal alcohol exposure

Pineal N-acetyltransferase (NAT) is activated by increased sympathetic activity or by administration of isoproterenol. These experiments examined the effects of fetal alcohol exposure on the pharmacological induction of NAT activity in rats. Fetal alcohol exposure resulted in a significant reduction of NAT activity compared to that in rats whose mothers received a nutritionally controlled liquid diet or a laboratory chow diet during gestation. Stimulation of NAT activity in vitro by forskolin, which directly stimulates adenylate cyclase, also was significantly less in pineal glands from fetal alcohol exposed rats when compared with pineal NAT activity from rats exposed to the control diets during gestation. The results suggest that the effects of fetal alcohol exposure is not limited to the beta-adrenergic receptor at the cell membrane, but that exposure to alcohol in utero may result in more general effects on intracellular mechanisms involved in pineal NAT enzyme synthesis or activity.