Increase in catalase activity in developing rat brain cell reaggregation cultures in the presence of ethanol

The aim of this investigation was to study the effects of ethanol on antioxidant enzymes in the developing brain, using reaggregation cultures of fetal rat brain cells as a model. The cultures were grown in the presence of 20 and 40 mM ethanol from day 2 until day 44 of the culture period, corresponding to a period in vivo from gestational day 17 to postnatal day 37. The catalase (EC 1.11.1.6) activity was consistently increased at all observation periods, from culture day 11 to day 44, by both doses of ethanol, and an immunoblot showed that the amount of catalase protein was markedly increased. The activities of manganese and copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1) and glutathione peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.9) were largely unaffected.