NEONATAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE PRODUCES HYPERACTIVITY IN HIGH-ALCOHOL-SENSITIVE BUT NOT IN LOW-ALCOHOL-SENSITIVE RATS

Children of women who consume high amounts of alcohol during their pre gnancies vary greatly in physical and behavioral outcomes. Although ma ny factors, such as dose and timing of exposure, undoubtedly contribut e to this variation, one important determinant may be genetic differen ces in the response to alcohol. The present study examined activity le vels in high alcohol sensitivity (HAS) and low alcohol sensitivity (LA S) rats following neonatal alcohol exposure. These lines were selectiv ely bred for extremes in ethanol-induced ''sleep times.'' The HAS and LAS offspring were exposed to alcohol via an artificial rearing proced ure using the ''pup-in-the-cup'' technique. Rat pups were exposed to e thanol (6 g/kg/day) from postnatal day (PD) 4 through 7 and faded to a dose of 3 g/kg/day on PD 8 and 9. An artificially reared gastrostomy control group (GC) and a normally reared suckle control group (SC) wer e also included. Activity level was measured on PD 18 through PD 21 fo r 30 min daily in automated activity monitors. Neonatal ethanol exposu re produced overactivity in HAS rats, relative to their controls, but the same ethanol treatment had no effect on the LAS rats. Importantly, there were no differences in blood alcohol concentrations (around 420 mg/dl) between the two lines during the treatment period. These data suggest that genetic differences in response to alcohol may be a predi ctor for some of the behavioral teratogenic effects of alcohol. (C) 19 98 Elsevier Science Inc.