Hicks and colleagues (2010) hypothesized that ethanol induces epigenetic alterations of cell cycle genes. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), a pro-mitotic factor, or transforming growth factor b1 (TGFb1), an anti-mitogenic factor, were included to regulate cell division in NSC cultures. Ethanol affects these compounds inversely; ethanol inhibits the effects of FGF2 and enhances the anti-mitogenic effects of TGFb1. To assess the changes in cell cycle kinetics over exposure time, ethanol-treated NSCs were labeled with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) during the addition of FGF2 or TGFb1. With the addition of ethanol (48 hours in closed chambers with 400 mg/dL ethanol), FGF2 or TGFb1 treatment resulted in longer G1 phase. S phase increased by 65% in FGF2 with ethanol treatment while G2/M phases were affected by ethanol in TGFb1-treated cultures. The authors conclude that ethanol alters cell cycle only in the presence of either pro- or anti-mitotic stimuli (Hicks et al. 2010). There was no significant change in cell cycle phases due to ethanol alone.
