Interactions between ethanol exposure during gestation and breastfeeding upon maternal care

PUETA, M.; ABATE, P.; SPEAR, N.E.; MOLINA, J.C.

Vancouver, Canadá

Congreso; 27th Scientific Meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism.; 2004

Research Society on Alcoholism

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ETHANOL EXPOSURE DURING GESTATION AND BREASTFEEDING UPON MATERNAL CARE.  M Pueta, P Abate, NE Spear & JC Molina. Instituto Ferreyra, Fac. Psicología, UNC, Argentina & Center Developmental Psychobioly,  Binghamton University, New York. Maternal ethanol intoxication within the nursing context provides information to the progeny that leads to the establishment of ethanol-related memories. Maternal behaviors are highly sensitive to EtOH's postabsorptive effects. Rat pups appear to associate ethanol's sensory attributes present in maternal milk with changes in the dam's behavioral repertoire caused by the drug. The goal of the present experiment was to evaluate maternal care as a function of ethanol exposure during late gestation and breastfeeding. This goal is intimately related with the likelihood of a continuing sequence of human maternal ethanol intoxication during gestation and nursing. Pregnant rats were given ethanol (2.0 g/kg, i.g) or water during late gestation (GDs 17-20). After birth (postnatal days, PDs 3-13) dams were either exposed to a subnarcoleptic ethanol dose (2.5 g/kg, i.g.) or to water. Latencies to retrieve all pups and to adopt a nursing position (crouching) were scored during PDs 3 and 13. When analysing maternal retrieval latencies, the ANOVA showed a significant interaction between pre- and postnatal manipulations. Latency to retrieve pups was significantly higher in those mothers that only received ethanol during breastfeeding relative to the remaining treatment conditions. Mothers exposed to ethanol during gestation and during breastfeeding had similar retrieval latencies as those dams that had never experienced the drug or only suffered its effects during pregnancy. Crouching latencies were significantly affected by postnatal treatment and postnatal day of evaluation. All dams administered with ethanol while breastfeeding showed significant impairments relative to the remaining conditions. In turn, crouching latencies were significantly lower during PD 13 relative to PD 3. The present results confirm our previous observations relative to ethanol's disruptive effects upon different behaviors related with maternal care. Furthermore, these results indicate possible development of maternal tolerance to ethanol particularly when focusing on the absence of the drug's disruptive effects upon retrieval latencies in mothers that were sequentially exposed to the drug during gestation and nursing. Yet, it is important to note that other behavioral components of maternal care appear to be significantly disrupted despite prior experience with the drug during gestation.