Effect of maternal ethanol consumption during pregnancy and lactation on kinetic parameters of folic acid intestinal transport in suckling rats

Ethanol ingestion is known to interfere with folate absorption and metabolism. A fostering/crossfostering analysis of maternal ethanol exposure effects on jejunum and ileum kinetic parameters in vivo of offspring rat folic acid absorption at 21 days postpartum was carried out. The rats were divided into four groups: CP, control pups; GP, pups exposed to ethanol only during gestation; LP, pups exposed to ethanol only during lactation; GLP, pups exposed to ethanol during gestation and lactation. Jejunal and ileal loop transport studies were performed using in vivo perfusion at a flow rate of 3 ml/min for 5 min. Folic acid concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2.5 mu M were used. Jejunal and ileal absorption values were determined by the difference between the initial and the final amounts of substrate in the perfusate and expressed as picomoles per square centimeter of intestinal surface every 5 min. The results indicated that ethanol consumption by the dams during gestation and/or lactation led to significant changes in V-max, with no significant changes in apparent K (m). These findings suggest that exposure to ethanol during gestational and suckling periods leads to a general delay in postnatal body weight and that intestinal folate absorption appears to be upregulated in suckling rats, this effect being higher in the LP group.