Anant Bahadur Patel1, Vivek Tiwari1, Dev Ketan Thacker1
1NMR Microimaging and Spectroscopy, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Brain development continues throughout gestation and postnatal period. As alcohol binds to glutamate and GABA receptors, exposure of alcohol during prenatal and postnatal period might affect the development of neurons and associated functions. Current study investigates the glutamatergic and GABAergic metabolism in the pups at P25 age obtained from dams exposed with alcohol during prenatal or postnatal period by using 1H-[13C]-NMR spectroscopy in conjunction with infusion of [1,6-13C2]glucose. Both, prenatal and postnatal exposure of alcohol to pups led to a reduction in glucose oxidation and neurotransmission associated with glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons.