FETAL PROGRAMMING OF HEIGHTENED ETHANOL PREFERENCE AND NEONATAL BREATHING DISRUPTIONS: COMMON DENOMINATORS BASED ON ETHANOL-RELATED LEARNING PROCESSES

MOLINA, JUAN CARLOS

San Diego

Congreso; RESEARCH SOCIETY ON ALCOHOLISM 41st ANNUAL RSA SCIENTIFIC MEETING June 16-20, 2018, San Diego, California; 2018

Research Society on Alcoholism

FETAL PROGRAMMING OF HEIGHTENED ETHANOL PREFERENCE AND NEONATAL BREATHING DISRUPTIONS: COMMON DENOMINATORS BASED ON ETHANOL-RELATED LEARNING PROCESSES ? JUAN C. MOLINA: Near term fetuses of different species react to the presence of novel chemosensory stimuli in the amniotic fluid and also exhibit associative learning processes comprising these cues and different unconditioned stimuli. We conducted preclinical and clinical studies aimed at the analysis of fetal learning experiences involving ethanol´s motivational consequences and its effects upon neurorespiratory plasticity. During the brain growth brain spurt period, rats rapidly learned to recognize ethanol´s sensory attributes. They also exhibited sensitization to ethanol´s positive reinforcing effects. Temporal contiguity between these phenomena facilitated the acquisition of early associative memories that favored ethanol preference patterns. Analogous learning processes occurred when analyzing the association between ethanol sensory processing and depressant respiratory effects of the drug. Studies conducted in human neonates corroborated that fetal exposure to non-teratogenic doses of the drug enhances neonatal preferences to ethanol odor. Neonates prenatally exposed to the drug also showed marked respiratory depressions when stimulated with ethanol odor. These studies show that fetuses acquire memories involving ethanol´s sensory attributes and differential physiological effects of the drug. Intrauterine ethanol-related learning enhances ethanol acceptance patterns and endangers the plasticity of the respiratory system when newborns are re-exposed to the drug´s sensory cues.