ALCOHOL EXPOSURE DURING DEVELOPMENT ALTERS SOCIAL RECOGNITION AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATION IN RATS

The present study examined the effects of postnatal alcohol exposure v ia gastric intubation on social communication of diet preference and s ocial recognition. Rats were placed in one of three treatment groups. All treatments occurred from postnatal day (PD) 2 through 10 and Exper iments 1 and 2 were conducted when the rats reached 60 and 100 days of age, respectively. Alcohol-exposed pups received a 3.0 g/kg dose of e thanol in milk solution that was delivered by insertion of PE-10 tubin g down the esophagus daily from PD 2 through 10. Intubated control ani mals underwent intubation without ethanol or milk. Nontreated control pups were weighed daily. In Experiment I, a nonexperimental rat was in itially given access to lab chow mixed with a spice and then housed wi th an experimental rat for 30 min. The experimental rat was subsequent ly given access to two diets-one that the nonexperimental rat had cons umed and a never diet. It was found that the alcohol-exposed females c onsumed a greater percent of the communicated diet than the control fe males. In Experiment 2, the experimental rats were first exposed to a juvenile for 5 min and then exposed to the same juvenile after a delay of 30 or 90 min. Investigation time was recorded in both sessions and a reduction of investigation time in the second session is an indicat or of social recognition memory. Alcohol-exposed rats of both sexes ha d poorer memory of a juvenile than both control groups after a 90-min delay. Together, these data indicate that basic components of social b ehavior may be altered by alcohol exposure during development. (C) 199 7 Elsevier Science Inc.