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Prenatal ethanol exposure and spatial navigation: Effects of postnatal handling and aging
Author(s) -
Gabriel Kara I.,
Johnston Sarah,
Weinberg Joanne
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.10023
Subject(s) - offspring , corticosterone , ethanol , physiology , spatial memory , prenatal exposure , morris water navigation task , pregnancy , psychology , medicine , biology , hippocampus , neuroscience , cognition , working memory , biochemistry , genetics , hormone
Prenatal ethanol exposure results in spatial navigation deficits in young and mid‐aged animals. In contrast, postnatal handling attenuates spatial deficits that emerge with age in animals that are not handled. Therefore, we investigated the ability of handling to attenuate spatial deficits in animals prenatally exposed to ethanol (E). Sprague‐Dawley male offspring from E, pair‐fed (PF), and control (C) groups were handled (H) or nonhandled (NH) from 1 to 15 days of age and tested on the Morris water maze at 2 or 13 to 14 months of age. In young animals, H‐E males had longer latencies to locate the submerged platform, and E animals, across handling conditions, showed altered search patterns compared to their PF and C counterparts. Mid‐aged animals had longer latencies than young animals, with no differences among E, PF, and C animals. However, corticosterone levels were higher in mid‐aged E than in C males. Handling did not attenuate impairments associated with either prenatal ethanol exposure or aging. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 40: 345–357, 2002. Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/dev.10023