Lactating rats, with litters adjusted to 8 pups on day 1, were divided into 4 groups: control animals (C), which received water and Nuvilab chow ad libitum, and ethanol animals (E), which received 20% (E20), 10% (E10), or 5% (E5) ethanol diluted in the drinking water and Nuvilab chow ad libitum. On day 12 of life, the pups were weighed and decapitated. The intake of 10% and 20% ethanol solutions by the lactating rats decreased the pups' body weight and liver weight. The pups' liver ATP-citrate lyase activity was decreased in all ethanol groups. The pups' brain weight decreased in E20 only. Glucose metabolism and lactate production were studied in the pups' brain slices, which were incubated at 37 degrees C in Krebs-Henseleit buffer under carbogen in the presence of glucose (5 mM) plus 14C-glucose (0.04 microCi) with or without beta-hydroxybutyrate or insulin. Study of the incubated pups' brain slices showed that the intake of the 20% ethanol solution by the dams increased glucose consumption, oxidation, lactate production, and lipogenesis rate from glucose in all media studied, as compared with findings in the C group. In the pups' brain slices, the lactate production and lipogenesis rate from glucose were higher in E10 than in the C group. The addition of beta-hydroxybutyrate to the incubation medium caused a decrease in glucose oxidation in C, E5, and E20 and an increase in glucose consumption in E10. Ingestion of the 5% ethanol solution by dams decreased the pups' brain lipogenesis rate from glucose in all media studied. We concluded that the effects of maternal alcohol intake on the pups' development and metabolism are dose-dependent. High amounts of ethanol intake (10% or 20%) caused a great impairment in the pups' growth, as well as their liver and brain metabolism. The low dose (5%) did not affect the pups' body weight gain or their brain and liver weight, but it did alter brain glucose metabolism.