Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Jacob School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2021 May;45(5):1122-1135. doi: 10.1111/acer.14599. Epub 2021 Apr 16.
Attention deficits caused by prenatal ethanol (EtOH) exposure (PE) are a prevalent condition in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Importantly, the deficits are observed in individuals with FASD who have normal IQs and show no dysmorphic facial features caused by heavy PE. These observations suggest that even moderate PE could lead to attention deficits. This possibility was investigated in the present study using a rat model.
Pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were administered EtOH (3 g/kg/day) or vehicle via intragastric gavage on gestational days 8 to 20. The blood EtOH concentration (BEC) in EtOH-treated rats was 87.7 ± 1.2 mg/dl (1 h after the gavage), similar to the BECs reported in other moderate PE studies in rodents. Moderate PE did not produce teratogenic effects on birthweight or litter size. The adult offspring underwent a 2-choice reaction time task.
Moderate PE led to augmented action impulsivity in both sexes, indicated by more rapid response initiation and more premature responses. Deficits were more marked in males than in females. No greater lapses of attention, assessed by incorrect or relatively slow responses, were observed in rats of either sex with moderate PE. In addition, no deficits in learning or motor function were detected after moderate PE. Interestingly, rats with moderate PE completed more trials than controls.
Our results confirm that moderate PE leads to attention deficits in both sexes, which is demonstrated by greater action impulsivity, but not more lapses of attention. This effect differs from that of heavy PE, as shown in our previous study, which is manifested as impaired action impulsivity and lapses of attention in both sexes.
产前乙醇（EtOH）暴露（PE）引起的注意力缺陷是胎儿酒精谱系障碍（FASD）的一种普遍情况。重要的是，在具有正常智商且无重度 PE 引起的畸形面部特征的 FASD 个体中观察到这些缺陷。这些观察结果表明，即使是中度 PE 也可能导致注意力缺陷。本研究采用大鼠模型对此进行了研究。
妊娠 Sprague Dawley 大鼠在妊娠第 8 至 20 天通过胃内灌胃给予 EtOH（3 g/kg/天）或载体。EtOH 处理大鼠的血液 EtOH 浓度（BEC）为 87.7±1.2mg/dl（灌胃后 1 小时），与其他啮齿动物中度 PE 研究中的 BEC 相似。中度 PE 对出生体重或产仔数没有致畸作用。成年后代进行了 2 选择反应时间任务。
中度 PE 导致两性的动作冲动性增加，表现为更快的反应起始和更多的过早反应。雄性的缺陷比雌性更明显。在中度 PE 的大鼠中，没有观察到注意力更易分散的情况，这是通过不正确或相对较慢的反应来评估的。此外，中度 PE 后未发现学习或运动功能缺陷。有趣的是，中度 PE 的大鼠比对照组完成了更多的试验。
我们的结果证实，中度 PE 导致两性的注意力缺陷，表现为动作冲动性增加，但注意力分散较少。与我们之前的研究不同，后者表现为两性的动作冲动性和注意力分散受损。
