Exposure to ethanol on prenatal days 19-20 increases ethanol intake and palatability in the infant rat: involvement of kappa and mu opioid receptors.

Prenatal exposure to ethanol on gestation Days 19-20, but not 17-18, increases ethanol acceptance in infant rats. This effect seems to be a conditioned response acquired prenatally, mediated by the opioid system, which could be stimulated by ethanol's pharmacological properties (mu-opioid receptors) or by a component of the amniotic fluid from gestation-day 20 (kappa-inducing factor). The latter option was evaluated administering non-ethanol chemosensory stimuli on gestation Days 19-20 and testing postnatal intake and palatability. However, prenatal exposure to anise or vanilla increased neither intake nor palatability of these tastants on postnatal Day 14. In experiment 2, the role of ethanol's pharmacological effect was tested by administering ethanol and selective antagonists of mu and kappa opioid receptors prenatally. Blocking the mu-opioid receptor system completely reversed the effects on intake and palatability, while antagonizing kappa receptors only partially reduced the effects on palatability. This suggests that the pharmacological effect of ethanol on the fetal mu opioid system is the appetitive reinforcer, which induces the prenatally conditioned preference detected in the preweanling period.