Skip Navigation
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document
Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document

Your Environment. Your Health.

Publication Detail

Title: Ethanol inhibits neuritogenesis induced by astrocyte muscarinic receptors.

Authors: Guizzetti, Marina; Moore, Nadia H; Giordano, Gennaro; VanDeMark, Kathryn L; Costa, Lucio G

Published In Glia, (2010 Sep)

Abstract: In utero alcohol exposure can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, characterized by cognitive and behavioral deficits. In vivo and in vitro studies have shown that ethanol alters neuronal development. We have recently shown that stimulation of M(3) muscarinic receptors in astrocytes increases the synthesis and release of fibronectin, laminin, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, causing neurite outgrowth in hippocampal neurons. As M(3) muscarinic receptor signaling in astroglial cells is strongly inhibited by ethanol, we hypothesized that ethanol may also inhibit neuritogenesis in hippocampal neurons induced by carbachol-stimulated astrocytes. In the present study, we report that the effect of carbachol-stimulated astrocytes on hippocampal neuron neurite outgrowth was inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner (25-100 mM) by ethanol. This effect was because of the inhibition of the release of fibronectin, laminin, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. Similar effects on neuritogenesis and on the release of astrocyte extracellular proteins were observed after the incubation of astrocytes with carbachol in the presence of 1-butanol, another short-chain alcohol, which like ethanol is a competitive substrate for phospholipase D, but not by tert-butanol, its analog that is not a substrate for this enzyme. This study identifies a potential novel mechanism involved in the developmental effects of ethanol mediated by the interaction of ethanol with cell signaling in astrocytes, leading to an impairment in neuron-astrocyte communication.

PubMed ID: 20648635 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Animals; Astrocytes/drug effects; Astrocytes/metabolism*; Butanols/pharmacology; Carbachol/pharmacology; Cells, Cultured; Central Nervous System Depressants*; Cerebral Cortex/cytology; Cholinergic Agonists/pharmacology; Coculture Techniques/methods; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Interactions; Embryo, Mammalian; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods; Ethanol/pharmacology*; Fibronectins/metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects; Hippocampus/cytology; Laminin/metabolism; Microscopy, Confocal/methods; Models, Biological; Neurites/drug effects*; Neurites/metabolism; Neurons/cytology*; Neurons/drug effects; Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1/metabolism; Rats; Receptors, Muscarinic/metabolism*; Tubulin/metabolism

Back
to Top