Sexual orientation of male mouse offspring prenatally exposed to ethanol.
Pregnant mice were intubated with either low (2 g/kg) or high (4 g/kg) dose of ethanol twice daily throughout the last third of the gestational period (from dg14 to dg18: gestational day; plug positive = dg 0). Ninety days after birth, the sexual orientation test was conducted on male offspring. This test was designed to observe a two-choice preference for either male or female partners in a setting in which the test animal could move freely between the two incentive compartments within which a stud male and an estrous female had been placed. We found that young adult males that had been exposed to ethanol prenatally have a decreased preference for the opposite sex and an increased preference for the same sex as a partner, although their physical development was apparently unaffected.
Watabe
T
T
Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Japan.
Endo
A
A
D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000187:drug effects; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*
D000431:Ethanol