Date Created

2009

Abstract

Aims: Prenatal exposure to alcohol can have adverse effects on the developing fetus. Two of the hallmarks of children exposed to alcohol prenatally are attention deficits and hyperactivity. While hyperactivity has been observed in rats following prenatal ethanol exposure, few studies have examined these effects in mice. The present study investigated the effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on activity in mice from three inbred strains: C57BL/6 (B6), Inbred Long Sleep (ILS) and Inbred Short Sleep (ISS).

Methods: On days 7 through 18 of gestation, mice were intragastrically intubated twice daily with either 3.0 g/kg Ethanol (E) or an isocaloric amount of Maltose-Dextrin (MD); Non-Intubated Control (NIC) litters were also generated. Offspring activity was monitored at 30, 60, 90 and 150 days of age. Results: While results showed no effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on any measures of activity, we did observe differences in baseline activity among the strains. ISS mice were more active than B6 and ILS for all activity measures except stereotypy; B6 mice had higher measures of stereotypy than ILS and ISS. Younger mice were more active than older mice. The only sex effects were on measures of stereotypy, where males had higher scores.

Conclusions: Mice are an excellent organism to study genetic influences on many phenotypes. However, our study and others have shown few effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on behavior in mice. It appears as if the prenatal period in mice, corresponding to organogenesis, is not a sensitive period for producing behavioral deficits following ethanol exposure. It is likely that the first two weeks postnatally, corresponding to the brain growth spurt, is more sensitive for producing behavioral effects.

Publication Title

Alchohol and Alcoholism

Document Type

Article

ISSN

1464-3502

Volume

44

Issue

2

First Page

25

Last Page

33

DOI

doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agn082

Keywords

Prenatal alchohol; Inbred strains

Place of Publication

United Kingdom

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the publisher. See Notes for more information.

Notes

This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Alcohol and Alcoholism following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version [Alcohol and Alcoholism (2009) 44 (1): 25-33. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agn082] is available online at: http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/44/1/25.full

Extent

37 pages (in manuscript)

Digital Origin

Born digital

Language

English

Publisher

Oxford University Press

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