Animal models of prenatal ethanol exposure are necessary to more fully understand the effects of ethanol on the developing embryo/fetus. However, most models employ procedures that may produce additional maternal stress beyond that produced by ethanol alone. We employed a daily limited-access ethanol intake model called Drinking in the Dark (DID) to assess the effects of voluntary maternal binge-like ethanol intake on the developing mouse. Evidence suggests that binge exposure may be particularly harmful to the embryo/fetus, perhaps due to the relatively higher blood ethanol concentrations achieved. Pregnant females had mean daily ethanol intakes ranging from 4.2-6.4 g/kg ethanol over gestation, producing blood ethanol concentrations ranging from 115-182 mg/dl. This level of ethanol intake produced behavioral alterations among adolescent offspring that disappeared by adulthood, including altered sensitivity to ethanol’s hypnotic actions. The DID model may provide a useful tool for studying the effects of prenatal ethanol exposure in mice.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.