Prenatal alcohol exposure alters the cerebral cortex proteome in weanling rats

•Prenatal alcohol exposure alters cerebral cortex small molecule metabolism.•Cerebral cortex energy regulation enzymes altered by prenatal alcohol exposure.•Cerebral cortex proteome profile altered by prenatal alcohol exposure.

Maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy impairs neurodevelopment in offspring. Utilizing a rodent model of continuous moderate dose alcohol exposure throughout gestation [gestation day 1 (GD1)–GD22; BAC ~70 mg/dL], the impact of developmental alcohol exposure on juvenile cerebral cortex protein abundances was determined. At weaning, cerebral cortex tissue was collected from pups for 2D SDS-PAGE based proteome analysis with statistical analysis by Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). Gestational alcohol exposure increased the abundance of post-translationally modified forms of cytoskeletal proteins and the abundance of proteins within the small molecule biochemistry (includes glucose metabolism) pathway and proteosome processing pathways though ubiquitin conjugating enzymes and chaperones were decreased in abundance. In weanling offspring exposed prenatally to alcohol, alterations in cytoskeletal protein post-translational modifications were noted. Increased abundance of proteins from the small molecule biochemistry pathway, which includes glucose metabolism, and proteosome processing pathways were also noted. Decreased abundances of ubiquitin conjugating enzyme and chaperone protein were noted in the cerebral cortex of these offspring.