Ethanol-induced cytoskeletal dysgenesis with dietary protein manipulations

Ethanol-induced cytoskeletal abnormalities occur in many cell types, affecting structure and function of the respective organs. When affecting the developing myocyte, damage is responsible for the hypotonicity and congestive heart failure of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) infants. To test the hypothesis that ethanol damages myocytes in utero, and determine that damage is not affected by dietary protein manipulations, female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed Leiber-DeCarli diets containing either 10% or 25% protein-derived calories, isocalorically balanced with or without 36% of the total calories containing ethanol. Muscle biopsies from rat pups of the ethanol-fed groups showed disorganized myocyte cytoskeleton: sarcomeric dysplasia with Z-band abnormality, actin in disarray, and granulofilamentous debris. Teratogenic effects of ethanol on myocytes occur in rat pups in utero, supporting the use of this model for studying ethanol effects on the developing cytoskeleton. We report ultrastructural evidence which provides a partial explanation of the mechanism of a well-known clinical phenomenon.