PRENATAL ETHANOL EXPOSURE INTERFERES WITH POSTNATAL LEARNING ABOUT ETHANOL AS A FUNCTION OF AGE IN RAT PUPS

CHOTRO, M.G; ARIAS, C; SPEAR, N.E.

Atlanta

Congreso; Meeting of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology.; 2006

International Society for Developmental Psychobiology.

In previous studies we have found that exposure to low to moderate ethanol doses during the last days of gestation induces a preference for alcohol in infant rats. Here we demonstrate that the administration of a high (3 g/kg) ethanol dose to the pregnant rat on gestational days 17-20 also results in an increased ethanol intake when measured on postnatal days (PDs) 14-15. In addition we found that this prenatal ethanol exposure weakened subsequent conditioned taste aversions for ethanol acquired on PDs 10-11 after a strong ethanol intoxication (3 g/kg),  while did not affect the appetitive response observed when pups were intoxicated on PDs 7-8. In an ethanol-lemon odor preference test (PDs 9 and 12) it was observed that, while the prenatal ethanol exposure did not affect ethanol odor preference, postnatal intoxication changed the preference for the drug?s odor as a function of age. General activity of the pups was also measured and no significant differences were detected on this index as a function of prenatal or postnatal ethanol exposure. The significant lower body weights observed at birth in pups prenatally exposed to ethanol compared to controls evidenced certain teratological effects of the drug. However, one week later these body weight differences disappeared. It is concluded that prenatal ethanol exposure induces an increase in ethanol acceptance, even with strong ethanol doses, and that this experience interferes with learning about ethanol acquired on PDs 10-11 after strong ethanol intoxication but not when this occurs on PDs 7-8.