Prenatal ganglioside GM1 treatment protects ethanol‐induced sleep time in rats exposed to ethanol in utero during gestation days 7 and 8

Pregnant rats were treated with ethanol intragastrically (5.8 g/kg in two divided doses) spaced 4 hr apart on gestation days (GD) 7 and 8. Ganglioside GM1 was injected (10 mg/kg, IM) 24 hr and 1 hr prior to ethanol on GD7 and 1 hr prior on GD8. The controls received saline only. Maternal blood alcohol reached peak levels of 4.3 mg/ml within 2 hr in both groups. There were no significant differences between the groups gain body weight, gestation time, or the litter size. There were also no significant differences in birth weight and the brain weight of the pups. At the age of 45 days, equal number of male offspring from each group were tested for hypnotic effect (sleep time) of ethanol challenge dose (3.5 g/kg). Animals that received ethanol alone in utero had a shorter sleep time compared to no ethanol controls (81 ± 19 and 130 ± 28 min respectively, P<.01). Ganglioside GM1 treated animals had sleep time similar to that of controls (131 ± 21 min). There were no significant differences in wakeup blood alcohol the groups. These results indicate that pretreatment with GM1 ganglioside of maternal rats antagonized decrease in sleep time in offspring induced by prenatal ethanol exposure.