Furthermore, in Experiment 2 (which had more power to detect differences), a number of genes in addition to the above list were present in the controls but were absent in the alcohol treated samples (Table 3). Notably, glycophorin A (Gypa) and beta-2 microglobulin (B2m) genes were absent in ALC-NTO, and ceruloplasmin (Cp), adducin 2 (Add2), B2 m, and ceruloplasmin (Cp) genes were absent in ALC-NTC. All of these are critical in hematopoiesis and/or red blood cell function [35-39]. In contrast, the aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family, B1 (Aldh1b1), which catalyzes oxidation of retinaldehyde, was present only in the alcohol-treated embryos with open neural tubes (ALC-NTO) (Table 3 last row). No gene was found to be absent in Control but present in ALC-NTC. Another retinol regulating gene, cellular retinol binding protein 1 (Crbp1), was reduced by alcohol exposure (Table 2).
