Neurofunctional effects of developmental alcohol exposure in alcohol-preferring and alcohol-nonpreferring rats

The neurofunctional effects of developmental alcohol exposure (3% v/v solut ion from day 15 of gestation to day 7 after parturition) have been investig ated in Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) and alcohol-nonpreferring (sNP) r at lines, selectively bred for opposite alcohol preference and consumption. Alcohol exposure significantly decreased the rate of ultrasonic emission i n sP male pups; whereas, it did not affect this indicator of emotional reac tivity in sNP animals. Perinatal alcohol intake did not influence either le arning of an active avoidance task or hippocampal long-term potentiation in both offspring lines. Significant differences in time spent exploring nove l objects were observed between control sP and sNP rats subjected to the no vel exploration object test. Alcohol exposed sP rats, but not alcohol expos ed sNP rats, apparently lost the capacity to discriminate between the novel and the familiar object, even though this different is difficult to interp ret because of the large differences in the respective responses to the nov el objects. Neurochemical experiments have shown that basal levels of dopam ine (DA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) were significantly higher in the nucle us accumbens (NAC) of sP rats with respect to sNP animals. Perinatal alcoho l did not affect basal DA and HVA concentrations or amphetamine-induced DA increase and HVA decrease in the NAC of either sP or sNP offspring. These r esults suggest that subtle behavioral alterations induced by developmental exposure to low doses of alcohol, which do not cause malformations and/or o vert neurotoxicity, may be associated with genetic factors, although not ne cessarily those responsible for differences in alcohol preference. (C) 2001 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.