PRENATAL AND POSTNATAL ETHANOL EXPOSURE INFLUENCES PREWEANLING RATS BEHAVIORAL AND AUTONOMIC RESPONDING TO ETHANOL ODOR

The specific question was how prenatal and/or postnatal experience wit h ethanol influences cardiac and behavioral responses to the odor of e thanol on postnatal day (PD) 16 In each of two experiments, pregnant r ats were given ethanol or water on gestational days 17-20. Offspring w ere exposed on PD12 to one of three conditions: intragastric administr ation of exposure to ethanol from littermates, or no treatment. Result s of Experiment 1 indicated that, regard6% ethanol, indirect less of p renatal ethanol exposure, 16-day-olds exposed on PD12 either directly or indirectly to ethanol expressed a greater increase in HR in respons e to ethanol odor than pups not postnatally exposed to ethanol. In Exp eriment 2, in which a lower ethanol dose was used postnatally, an inte raction between pre- and postnatal ethanol exposure was observed; that is, pups exposed pre- and postnatally to ethanol showed the greatest increases in HR and the smallest increases in motor activity in respon se to ethanol odor. In both expenments motor activity was dissociated from increases in HR. The results are discussed in terms of what is le arned, prenatally and postnatally in association with the chemosensory properties of ethanol.