Ethanol alters cell fate of fetal human brain-derived stem and progenitor cells.

BACKGROUND:Prenatal ethanol (ETOH) exposure can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). We previously showed that ETOH alters cell adhesion molecule gene expression and increases neurosphere size in fetal brain-derived neural stem cells (NSC). Here, our aim was to determine the effect of ETOH on the cell fate of NSC, premature glial-committed precursor cells (GCP), and premature neuron-committed progenitor cells (NCP). METHODS:NSC, GCP, and NCP were isolated from normal second-trimester fetal human brains (n = 3) by positive selection using magnetic microbeads labeled with antibodies to CD133 (NSC), A2B5 (GCP), or PSA-NCAM (NCP). As a result of the small percentage in each brain, NSC were cultured in mitogenic media for 72 hours to produce neurospheres. The neurospheres from NSC and primary isolates of GCP and NCP were used for all experiments. Equal numbers of the 3 cell types were treated either with mitogenic media or with differentiating media, each containing 0 or 100 mM ETOH, for 120 hours. Expression of Map2a, GFAP, and O4 was determined by immunoflourescence microscopy and western blot analysis. Fluorescence intensities were quantified using Metamorph software by Molecular Devices, and the bands of western blots were quantified using densitometry. RESULTS:ETOH in mitogenic media promoted formation of neurospheres by NSC, GCP, and NCP. Under control conditions, GCP attached and differentiated, NSC and NCP formed neurospheres that were significantly smaller in size than those in ETOH. Under differentiating conditions, Map2a expression increased significantly in NSC and GCP and reduced significantly in NCP, and GFAP expression reduced significantly in GCP and NCP, and Gal-C expression reduced significantly in all 3 cell types in the presence of ETOH compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS:This study shows that ETOH alters the cell fate of neuronal stem and progenitor cells. These alterations could contribute to the mechanism for the abnormal brain development in FASD.