Effect of Ethanol and Vitamin B6 Deficiency on Pyridoxal 5-Phosphate Levels and Fetal Growth in Rat

The effects of chronic ethanol consumption and dietary vitamin B₆ levels on tissue pyridoxal 5-phosphate (PLP) contents and rat fetal development were investigated. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were given 35% ethanol-calorie liquid diet with either adequate B₆ (1.7 mg/liter) or deficient B₆ (0.17 mg/liter), ad libitum, from gestation days 7 to 21. Control groups (adequate control and deficient control) were pair-fed with isocaloric sucrose substituted for ethanol. Rats were killed on gestation day 21. Ethanol groups had smaller fetuses than control groups, regardless of their dietary B₆ levels. However, in B₆ deficiency, ethanol affected fetal weight more severely than in B₆ adequate state. Tissue PLP levels were determined by radioen-zymatic method. In B₆ deficiency, ethanol feeding reduced maternal liver PLP by 22%. PLP in other tissues were not affected by ethanol. These results confirmed that chronic alcohol consumption affected fetal growth and also provided evidence that B₆ deficiency exacerbated ethanol effect.