Function and structure of N‐CAM

Adult fetal ethanol-exposed (FEE) rats exhibit enhanced pituitary-adrenal responses to certain stressors (Taylor et al, Pharmac. Biochem. Behav. 16: 585, ]982) and enhanced stress-induced analgesia following inescapable, intermittent footshock (Nelson et al, Abstr. Soc. Neurosci. 8: 596, ]982). When exposed daily to the footshock stress, adult FEE rats consume signifTcantly more ethanol (E) than controls (Nelson et al, Proc. Western Pharmacol. Soc., in press). FEE rats also display an increased hypothermic and pituitary-adrenal response when challenged with acute doses of E as adults (Taylor et al Alcohol ism 5: 237,1981). In neonatal FEE rats, brain and plasma corticosterone concentrations are significantly elevated (Taylor et al, Psychoneuroendocrinology 7: 49,1982). On postnatal day 7, when basal plasma corticosterone concentrations have attained normal values, injection of morphine (3.0 mg/kg,sc) but not E (1.5 g/kg, sc) produced normal activation of the pituitary-adrenal axis in FEE rats. Thus, tolerance to this effect of E appears to persist for at least the first 7 days of life despite cessation of E exposure at birth. Whether these fetal E-induced effects on neonatal neuroendocrine function contribute to the long-lasting alterations in responsiveness to stress and to a variety of pharmacologic agents including E in adult FEE offspring remain to be determined. (Supported by Veterans' Administration Medical Research Service.)