Disruption of maternal behavior by alcohol intoxication in the lactating rat: a behavioral and metabolic analysis.
BACKGROUND
Preweanling rats exhibit clear behavioral signs of distress after interacting with an alcohol-intoxicated dam. Interestingly, behavioral reactivity of infants to the experience of alcohol in the nursing context decreases as a function of repeated alcohol administrations to the mother. In this study, maternal activities were examined when dams were exposed to repeated administrations of a subnarcoleptic alcohol dose. Maternal changes in alcohol metabolism were also analyzed as a function of repeated exposures to the drug.


METHODS
During postpartum days 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13, nursing dams received an intragastric administration of either 2.5 g/kg of alcohol or water. Maternal behaviors were evaluated (experiment 1). Blood alcohol levels (BALs) of the dams were determined on postpartum day 16 after all mothers received either an intragastric (experiment 2) or an intraperitoneal (experiment 3) dose of alcohol. The doses used (2.5 g/kg intragastrically and 1.5 g/kg intraperitoneally) were chosen because they promote similar peak BALs in dams naive to alcohol.


RESULTS
Maternal behaviors were strongly affected by the state of intoxication. Nevertheless, these disruptions clearly subsided with progression of alcohol-related experiences (experiment 1). Chromatographic analysis of alcohol metabolism indicated the development of tolerance in dams that had prior experience with alcohol (experiment 2). Changes in BALs as a function of prior experience with alcohol seemed related to first-pass alcohol metabolism rather than hepatic oxidative processes of the drug (experiments 2 and 3).


CONCLUSIONS
When the dam first experiences a moderate state of alcohol intoxication, maternal behaviors are uniformly disrupted. Subsequent exposures to alcohol lead to maternal metabolic tolerance. In conjunction with previous studies, these data indicate that infantile reactivity to alcohol is dependent on how the members of the dam/pup dyad express or perceive ethanol's postabsorptive effects.
Instituto de Investigación Médica Mercedes y Martin Ferreyra, Casilla de Correo 389, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina.
Marta Yanina
MY
Pepino
Paula
P
Abate
Norman E
NE
Spear
Juan Carlos
JC
Molina
D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation / Q000097:blood* / Q000187:drug effects; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D000431:Ethanol