Neonatal alcohol exposure impairs acquisition of eyeblink conditioned responses during discrimination learning and reversal in weanling rats.

Full Abstract

Discrimination and reversal of the classically conditioned eyeblink response depends on cerebellar-brainstem interactions with the hippocampus. Neonatal "binge" exposure to alcohol at doses of 5 g/kg/day or more has been shown to impair single-cue eyeblink conditioning in both weanling and adult rats. The present study exposed neonatal rats to acute alcohol intubations across different developmental periods (postnatal day [PND] 4-9 or PND7-9) and tested them from PND26-31 on discriminative classical eyeblink conditioning and reversal. A high dose of alcohol (5 g/kg/day) dramatically impaired conditioning relative to controls when exposure occurred over PND4-9, but produced mild or no impairments when delivered over PND7-9. These findings support previous claims that developmental exposure period plays a critical role in determining the deleterious effects of alcohol on the developing brain. A lower dose of alcohol (4 g/kg/day) delivered from PND4-9--lower than has previously been shown to affect single-cue eyeblink conditioning--also produced deficits on the discrimination task, suggesting that discrimination learning and acquisition of responding to CS+ during reversal may be especially sensitive behavioral indicators of alcohol-induced brain damage in this rat model.(c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Author information

Author/s: Brown, Kevin L (KL); Calizo, Lyngine H (LH); Goodlett, Charles R (CR); Stanton, Mark E (ME);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.

Grants: 1-R01-AA11945 (Agency:NIAAA NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Developmental psychobiology (Dev Psychobiol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Apr; vol 49 (issue 3) : pp 243-57

Dates: Created 2007/04/02; Completed 2007/07/16; Revised 2007/12/03;

PMID: 17380527, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Alcoholic Intoxication - psychology
Animals
Animals, Newborn
Brain Damage, Chronic - psychology
Brain Stem - drug effects
Cerebellum - drug effects
Conditioning, Eyelid - drug effects
Discrimination Learning - drug effects
Disease Models, Animal

Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Ethanol - toxicity
Female
Hippocampus - drug effects
Male
Rats
Rats, Long-Evans
Reversal Learning - drug effects
Weaning

Associated Chemicals: Ethanol (64-17-5)

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