Interactions between prenatal alcohol exposure and postnatal learning about alcohol in rat pups.

ARIAS, C; CHOTRO, M.G

Baltimore

Congreso; FASt Data research sessions organized by the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Study Group (FASDSG).; 2006

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Study Group (FASDSG).

 Exposure to alcohol during the last days of gestation has been shown to induce a preference for alcohol in infant rats. This preference seems to result from the prenatal association between the chemosensory aspects of alcohol and its reinforcing properties, the latter mediated by the opioid system. In a series of experiments it was analyzed how this prenatal experience with alcohol affected postnatal conditioning of the drug?s flavor. In the first experiment it was observed that prenatal alcohol exposure delayed the postnatal acquisition of a conditioned aversion to the taste of alcohol, using LiCl as unconditioned stimuli (US). In the next two experiments the same effect was observed when a high ethanol dose (3 g/kg) administered intragastrically was used as a US. These results provide additional support to the hypothesis of an appetitive associative memory established prenatally as a consequence of fetal alcohol exposure, although other explanations related to tolerance or teratological effects of the drug can not be completely discarded.