Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA; Department of Psychology, Park Hall Room 204, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.
Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2018 Oct 1;191:343-347. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.07.013. Epub 2018 Aug 25.
Prenatal ethanol exposure (PE) leads to multiple cognitive and behavioral deficits including increased drug addiction risk. Previous studies have shown that rearing environment plays a significant role in impacting addiction risk. In the present study, we investigated if environmental enrichment during development could be effective in lowering the PE-induced increase in addiction risk. To simulate heavy drinking during pregnancy in humans, pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats received ethanol (6 g/kg/day) or vehicle through intragastric gavage on gestation days 8-20. After weaning, the offspring were reared in either an enriched environment (EE) including neonatal handling and complex housing or an impoverished environment (IE) consisting of barren, single housing. Adult male offspring were then tested for locomotion, performance on the elevated plus maze, and amphetamine self-administration under a progressive ratio reinforcement schedule. Overall, EE rats, compared to IE rats, showed reduced locomotor activity in a novel environment and lower levels of anxiety, irrespective of prenatal treatments. Prenatal ethanol exposure increased amphetamine self-administration at both doses tested (0.02 and 0.05 mg/kg/infusion) and in each case EE, relative to IE, reversed this effect. These findings suggest that postnatal environmental complexity plays a determining role in addiction risk after PE.
产前乙醇暴露（PE）会导致多种认知和行为缺陷，包括增加药物成瘾的风险。先前的研究表明，养育环境在影响成瘾风险方面起着重要作用。在本研究中，我们研究了在发育过程中环境丰富是否可以有效降低 PE 引起的成瘾风险增加。为了模拟人类怀孕期间的大量饮酒，怀孕的 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠通过胃内灌胃在妊娠第 8-20 天接受乙醇（6g/kg/天）或载体。断乳后，后代在丰富环境（EE）中饲养，包括新生儿处理和复杂的住房，或在贫瘠的、单一的住房中饲养在贫困环境（IE）中。然后，成年雄性后代在递增比例强化方案下接受运动、高架十字迷宫表现和安非他命自我给药测试。总的来说，与 IE 组相比，EE 组大鼠在新环境中的运动活性降低，焦虑水平降低，而与产前处理无关。产前乙醇暴露增加了两种测试剂量（0.02 和 0.05mg/kg/注射）的安非他命自我给药，在每种情况下，EE 都逆转了这种效应。这些发现表明，产后环境复杂性在 PE 后成瘾风险中起着决定性作用。
