Ultrastructural changes in neonatal liver tissue: effects of maternal drinking

There is already sufficient evidence in the literature that alcohol abuse during pregnancy has a toxic effect upon the developing fetus; however, previous studies have not revealed any morphological changes in fetal or newborn liver specimens from animals exposed to alcohol in utero. As it is known that alcohol freely crosses the placental barrier, this investigation was an attempt to demonstrate that structural abnormalities can indeed be identified in neonatal mouse liver specimens from pups exposed to alcohol in utero. Chosen as a model for this study was the C57BL/KsJ mouse strain as this particular animal demonstrates an alcohol preference paralleling that of the human alcoholic. Findings appear to indicate the presence of abnormal changes on the morphological level in these study animals.