[Effects of maternal alcohol exposure during gestation and/or lactation periods on radial-maze learning in offspring rats].
The present study was designed to investigate the effects of maternal alcohol (15%) exposure during the gestation and/or lactation periods on learning of an 8-arm radial maze by rat offspring. Acquisition of the maze learning was found to be profoundly retarded only in the offspring of mothers treated with alcohol during gestation. This result could not be explained by a secondary effect of malnutrition produced by the alcohol treatment, because body weight increase in the offspring was suppressed by the alcohol treatment during lactation but not during gestation. The possibility of involvement of deficits in brain development (especially of the hippocampus) in the learning impairment was discussed.
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000254:growth & development; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008892:Milk / Q000032:analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D013028:Space Perception
D000431:Ethanol