9 1996 by Humana Press Inc. All rights of any nature whatsoever reserved. 1044-7393/96/2901--0015 $08.00 Oral Aluminum Administration During Pregnancy and Lactation Produces Gastric and Renal Lesions in Rat Mothers and Delay in CNS Development of Their Pups B. K. POULOS, 1-4 M. PERAZZOLO, 2'4 V. M.-Y. LEE, 5 R. RUDELLI, 4,6 H. M. WISNIEWSKI, t'2'4'6 AND D. SOIFER *'1-4 i CSI/IBR Center for Developmental Neuroscience; 2 Center for Trace Metal Studies and Environmental Neurotoxicology, Staten Island, NY; 3CUNY Doctoral Program in Biology; 4NyS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, 1050 Forest Hill Road, Staten Island, NY 10314; 5University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; and 6CCL, Staten Island, NY Received July 9, 1995; Accepted August 25, 1995 ABSTRACT The expression of the neurofilament protein of the highest molec- ular weight (NF-H) is developmentally and spatially regulated. For example, the MAb RMO24.9, directed against a phosphorylated epi- tope in the tail domain of NF-H, immunohistochemically labels specific tracts within the rat brainstem prenatally, but does not label dienceph- alic tracts until after postnatal day 10 (P10). A diet providing 300 mg/kg/d A1 (as A1 lactate) to rat dams throughout gestation causes behavioral deficits in their offspring (Bernuzzi et al., 1989). We repeated this regimen by substituting 120 mM A1 lactate (pH 6.5) for drinking water during gestation and lactation, and examined the distribution of immunolabeling by RMO 24.9 after exposure to A1. Tracts within the diencephalon that bind RMO 24.9 on Pll in control pups did not bind the MAb until P14 in Al-treated pups. In these preliminary experi- ments, A1 seemed to have caused a developmental delay in the expres- sion of phosphorylated NF-H in the pups of mothers that received AI *Author to whom all correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Molecular and Chemical Neuropathology 15 Vol.29, 1996