title: Fetal alcohol effects in rats exposed pre- and postnatally to a low dose of ethanol.
abstract: Wistar rats were exposed pre- and/or postnatally to a low dose of ethanol (1 g/kg of body weight of dams/day) via maternal peroral intubation. This dose significantly increased the mortality rate (23 to 32% vs. 7% in controls) in offspring exposed to ethanol during pregnancy, with a continued postnatal exposure having no additional effect. However, offspring cross-fostered to dams that had been exposed to ethanol only during gestation (the offspring themselves never being directly exposed to ethanol) displayed an even greater (59%) mortality. Growth of the offspring was initially delayed, but 9 weeks after birth their body weight reached that of the controls. The two-way active avoidance test showed an impairment, compared with the controls, of learning and memory in both male and female adolescent (9-week-old) rats, as well as in male (but not in female) 5-month-old rats born of dams exposed to ethanol during gestation and lactation. In the group of male rats treated prenatally and postnatally with ethanol, 60% were "poor learners," compared with 33% in the control group. Results suggest that ethanol at a dose of 1 g/kg/day administered to dams during gestation and lactation produced growth and behavioral changes in the offspring.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Psychopharmacology, Institute of Physiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vaglenova
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Petkov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007774:Lactation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008098:Litter Size / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects; D012931:Social Environment
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol