Concurrent Dietary Administration of D-SAL and Ethanol Diminishes Ethanol’s Teratogenesis Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (OnlineEarly Articles)
19 October 2007
SAL (SALLRSIPA) is a peptide fragment of activity-dependent neurotrophic factor. Both L- and D-SAL diminish ethanol’s pathogenesis, however, the D-peptide is protease resistant, and can therefore be effectively administered in a diet.
The present study tested the hypothesis that D-SAL provided in a liquid diet containing ethanol will prevent ethanol-induced teratogenicity in mice.
Dietary D-SAL reduced the incidence of ocular defects in ethanol-exposed fetuses from 29 to 10% in the right eyes and from 21 to 7.5% in the left eyes; levels similar to those observed in pair-fed controls. In addition to decreasing their incidence, D-SAL also reduced the severity of the ocular defects.
These results demonstrate that oral D-SAL can prevent ethanol-induced ocular defects. Because ocular defects are commonly associated with CNS damage, oral D-SAL may also prove valuable in preventing ethanol-induced brain defects.
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