title: Prenatal ethanol exposure impairs executive function in mice into adulthood.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite evidence that prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can lead to a wide range of impairments in cognitive, social, and emotional behaviors, drinking during pregnancy remains common. Although there is a general understanding that high levels of drinking during pregnancy are unsafe, conflicting evidence regarding the impact of low intake may account for the persistence of this behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  To investigate the effects of PAE on learning and executive control, we utilized a voluntary paradigm where pregnant mice had access to a saccharin-sweetened 10% alcohol solution for 4 hours, during the dark cycle, throughout gestation. Male and female offspring were tested as adults on a touch-screen discrimination and reversal task mediated by corticostriatal circuits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Consistent with previous findings, PAE did not lead to gross morphological, motor, or sensory alterations in offspring. Both PAE and saccharin control female mice were slower to acquire the discrimination than males, but PAE did not impair associative learning in either sex. During reversal, PAE led to a specific and significant impairment in the early phase, where cortical control is most required to flexibly alter choice behavior. PAE mice showed a significant increase in maladaptive perseverative responses but showed intact learning of the new association during late reversal.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Previously, data from clinical studies have suggested that executive control deficits may underlie cognitive, as well as social, problems seen in adolescents with documented PAE. These data demonstrate that even more moderate alcohol exposure during development can lead to impaired cognitive functioning well into adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marquardt
authors.forename: Rahul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sigdel
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Caldwell
authors.forename: Jonathan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Brigman
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Executive Function; Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders; Mouse; Touch-Screen