Binge-like ethanol exposure during the early postnatal period impairs eyeblink conditioning at short and long CS-US intervals in rats.
Binge-like ethanol exposure on postnatal days (PD) 4-9 in rodents causes cerebellar cell loss and impaired acquisition of conditioned responses (CRs) during "short-delay" eyeblink classical conditioning (ECC), using optimal (280-350 ms) interstimulus intervals (ISIs). We extended those earlier findings by comparing acquisition of delay ECC under two different ISIs. From PD 4 to 9, rats were intubated with either 5.25 g/kg of ethanol (2/day), sham intubated, or were not intubated. They were then trained either as periadolescents (about PD 35) or as adults (>PD 90) with either the optimal short-delay (280-ms) ISI, a long-delay (880-ms) ISI, or explicitly unpaired CS and US presentations. Neonatal binge ethanol treatment significantly impaired acquisition of conditioning at both ages regardless of ISI, and deficits in the acquisition and expression of CRs were comparable across ISIs. These deficits are consistent with the previously documented ethanol-induced damage to the cerebellar-brainstem circuit essential for Pavlovian ECC.
Department of Psychology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA. trant@ecu.edu
Tuan D
TD
Tran
Mark E
ME
Stanton
Charles R
CR
Goodlett
D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001767:Blinking / Q000187:drug effects*; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects*; D004576:Electromyography; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010507:Periodicity; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D013997:Time Factors
D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol