Interacción entre la exposición prenatal al alcohol y aprendizajes postnatales sobre la droga en crías de rata.

CHOTRO, M. G.; ARIAS, C.

Madrid

Congreso; Sociedad Española de Psicología comparada; 2005

Exposure to alcohol during the last days of gestation of the rat has been shown to induce a preference to this drug?s taste and also an increased alcohol intake in infant rats. This preference seems to be the consequence of the prenatal association between the chemosensory aspects of alcohol and its reinforcing properties, mediated by the opioid system. In a series of experiments it was analyzed how this prenatal experience with ethanol affected postnatal conditioning of the drug?s flavor. In the first two experiments it was observed that prenatal exposure to ethanol delayed the postnatal acquisition of a conditioned aversion to the taste of ethanol, using as US either ethanol intoxication or LiCl. In a third experiment it was observed that this delay was not evidenced when the prenatal association was prevented by blocking the reinforcing properties of ethanol in utero. These results provide additional support to the hypothesis of an associative memory established prenatally as a consequence of fetal alcohol exposure.