Figure 8: Effects of gestational ethanol exposure on invasive trophoblast associated genes. Placental tissue was harvested from Long Evans rats fed with isocaloric liquid diets containing 0% or 8.2% ethanol (v/v) starting from E6, E10, E14, E15, or E16. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to measure the mRNA expression of genes associated with (A) glycogen cells – Gjb3, (BD) invasive trophoblasts – Prl2a1, Prl5a1, and Mmp2, and normalized to 18S rRNA measured in the same samples. Inter-group comparisons were made using ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons post-hoc test for statistical significance. N=8 (2-3 placentas/dam) per group.