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Binge‐like ethanol exposure during the early postnatal period impairs eyeblink conditioning at short and long CS–US intervals in rats
Author(s) -
Tran Tuan D.,
Stanton Mark E.,
Goodlett Charles R.
Publication year - 2007
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.20226
Subject(s) - eyeblink conditioning , conditioning , binge drinking , classical conditioning , psychology , brainstem , ethanol , cerebellum , neuroscience , purkinje cell , anesthesia , audiology , developmental psychology , medicine , poison control , chemistry , injury prevention , medical emergency , statistics , mathematics , organic chemistry
Binge‐like ethanol exposure on postnatal days (PD) 4–9 in rodents causes cerebellar cell loss and impaired acquisition of conditioned responses (CRs) during “short‐delay” eyeblink classical conditioning (ECC), using optimal (280–350 ms) interstimulus intervals (ISIs). We extended those earlier findings by comparing acquisition of delay ECC under two different ISIs. From PD 4 to 9, rats were intubated with either 5.25 g/kg of ethanol (2/day), sham intubated, or were not intubated. They were then trained either as periadolescents (about PD 35) or as adults (>PD 90) with either the optimal short‐delay (280‐ms) ISI, a long‐delay (880‐ms) ISI, or explicitly unpaired CS and US presentations. Neonatal binge ethanol treatment significantly impaired acquisition of conditioning at both ages regardless of ISI, and deficits in the acquisition and expression of CRs were comparable across ISIs. These deficits are consistent with the previously documented ethanol‐induced damage to the cerebellar–brainstem circuit essential for Pavlovian ECC. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 589‐605, 2007.