Prenatal ethanol exposure: Correlation of neurobehavioral changes with mother's blood ethanol level

✍ Scribed by Dr. Sikta Pradhan; Felicia Briggs; Don Philips

• Book ID: 102817542
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 653 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0272-4391
• DOI: 10.1002/ddr.430120312

✦ Synopsis

Different liquid diets were tested as vehicles for ethanol administration in order to maximize the blood ethanol level (BEL) in rats. This was done since maternal BEL during the gestation period is believed to be the determining factor for behavioral and neurochemical changes in the offspring. A comparative study with three different liquid diets indicated that the Sustacal and Lieber-DeCarli diets were more effective in elevating the BEL than the Bio-Mix diet. Furthermore, it was observed that prenatal ethanol exposure affected to a varying extent the neuromuscular abilities (detected by rotarod test) and maze-learning in the offspring of mothers that receive ethanol through Lieber-DeCarli diet. No significant (P < 0.01) behavioral changes were observed in the offspring of mothers that received the Bio-Mix diet containing ethanol.