Postnatal ethanol exposure impairs social behavior and operant extinction in the adult female mouse offspring

Abstract

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) comprises a group of neurodevelopmental deficits caused by alcohol exposure during pregnancy. Clinical studies suggest that while the male progeny experiences serious neurodevelopmental defects, female patients have more severe cognitive, social, and affective symptoms. Other than sex, dose, frequency, and timing of exposure determine the neurobehavioral outcomes in young and adult progeny. In this regard, human studies indicate that some individuals relapse during late-term gestational periods. In mice, this interval corresponds to the first 10 days after birth (postnatal, P0-P10). In our model of postnatal ethanol exposure (PEEP0-P10), we tested whether adult female and male offspring show deficits in sociability, anxiety-like, reward consumption, and action-outcome associations. We report that female PEEP0-P10 offspring have mild social impairments and altered extinction of operant responding in the absence of anxiety-like traits and reward consumption defects. None of these deficits were detected in the male PEEP0-P10 offspring. Our data provide novel information on sex-specific neurobehavioral outcomes of postnatal ethanol exposure in female adult offspring.

Social Interaction in Adolescent Rats with Neonatal Ethanol Exposure: Impact of Sex and CE-123, a Selective Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor

“…The term "fetal alcohol spectrum disorders" (FASDs) refers to a range of highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Among the associated impairments across the entire spectrum, a broad range of behavioral problems classified as social in nature seems to be very characteristic [1][2][3]. PAE-related social behavior deficits emerge early in development and become more pronounced prior to and during adolescence, a critical period of development during which significant behavioral, cognitive, and physiological changes occur, including the onset of puberty, making adolescence a unique period of increased vulnerability to social behavior dysfunction.…”