A study of the behavioral effects of prenatal ethanol exposure in mice fed a diet marginally deficient in essential fatty acids for two generations.
This study investigated the effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on measures of fecundity, growth, behavioral development and learning in mice that had been fed a diet, marginal in essential fatty acid (EFA) content for two generations. The first generation of mice were fed one of two diets (adequate or marginal EFA) from conception. They were mated at 10 weeks, and from days 5 to 17 of gestation dams on each diet were fed equivalent daily amounts of a liquid diet containing either 22.5% of the calories as ethanol or with maltose-dextrin substituted isocalorically for ethanol. An additional control group was fed lab chow ad libitum. Offspring were maintained on their respective diets after weaning. The marginal-EFA diet led to a large increase in perinatal mortality; it also decreased body and brain weight in the surviving pups, and retarded behavioural development. Ethanol retarded behavioral development in females, and delayed the acquisition of learning the position of an escape platform in a T water-maze in the mice fed the adequate-EFA diet. The effects of ethanol did not appear to be worse in the mice fed the marginal-EFA diet, but these data must be considered in light of the high mortality on this diet, where only the healthiest pups may have survived.
Fraser
M
M
Department of Health Studies and Gerontology, University of Waterloo, Ont., Canada.
Wainwright
P E
PE
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002149:Energy Intake; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000172:deficiency; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006128:Growth; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
D004041:Dietary Fats; D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential; D000431:Ethanol