Modeling Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Validating an Ex Vivo Primary Hippocampal Cell Culture System.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the leading nongenetic cause of mental retardation. There are no treatments for FASD to date. Preclinical in vivo and in vitro studies could help in identifying novel drug targets as for other diseases. Here, we describe an ex vivo model that combines the physiological advantages of prenatal ethanol (EtOH) exposure in vivo with the uniformity of primary fetal hippocampal culture to characterize the effects of prenatal EtOH. The insulin signaling pathways are known to be involved in hippocampal functions. Therefore, we compared the expression of insulin signaling pathway genes between fetal hippocampi (in vivo) and primary hippocampal culture (ex vivo). The similarity of prenatal EtOH effects in these 2 paradigms would deem the ex

SUBMITTER: Tunc-Ozcan E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4889522 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature