Fig. 2

Effects of ethanol on expression of BLBP in NEP and mHYP. Maternal ethanol administration group (2 g/kg/day, E10–E15) was compared to Untreated and isocaloric Control groups of E19 embryos. Ethanol significantly increased in NEP+mHYP area the expression of BLBP measured using qRT-PCR, which is presented here as mRNA fold change compared to the Untreated control group. This effect on BLBP mRNA levels (with analysis of average ratio scores) was evident in both female embryos (Untreated = 0.223 ± 0.006, Control = 0.234 ± 0.007, Ethanol = 0.334 ± 0.014) and male embryos (Untreated = 0.221 ± 0.008, Control = 0.214 ± 0.008, Ethanol = 0.253 ± 0.009) but was significantly greater in females, with no differences between female and male control groups and between control groups within each sex. Data are mean ± SEM. (n = 7/group/sex, *p < 0.05 versus control group, ^#p < 0.05 versus males). Two-way ANOVA was used to compare means between groups, simple main effect analyses to test differences between sexes as well as differences within each sex, and paired t tests to directly compare within each sex the effects of maternal treatment versus the control group.