Prenatal ethanol exposure results in spatial navigation deficits in young and mid-aged animals. In contrast, postnatal handling attenuates spatial deficits that emerge with age in animals that are not handled. Therefore, we investigated the ability of handling to attenuate spatial deficits in animals prenatally exposed to ethanol (E). Sprague-Dawley male offspring from E, pair-fed (PF), and control (C) groups were handled (H) or nonhandled (NH) from 1 to 15 days of age and tested on the Morris water maze at 2 or 13 to 14 months of age. In young animals, H-E males had longer latencies to locate the submerged platform, and E animals, across handling conditions, showed altered search patterns compared to their PF and C counterparts. Mid-aged animals had longer latencies than young animals, with no differences among E, PF, and C animals. However, corticosterone levels were higher in mid-aged E than in C males. Handling did not attenuate impairments associated with either prenatal ethanol exposure or aging.

No abstract

Statistical comparisons indicate that within 12 hours of birth the serum protein-bound iodine of the infant is of the same order of magnitude, on the average, as that present in maternal blood during pregnancy or within a few hours of delivery. During the remainder of the first week of life there occurs a transient statistically significant increase in the mean value of this iodine fraction. During the sixth to twelfth week the concentrations fall below those present neonatally, but at this time or at any subsequent age up to 1 year, they are still on the average above those encountered in euthyroid nonpregnant adults or in older children. The possible relationship of these higher mean values in infancy to increased thyroid function in the rapidly growing infant have been mentioned with emphasis on the elevated concentration of circulating thyroxin.