Taylor A N, Branch B J, Cooley-Matthews B, Poland R E
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1982;7(1):49-58. doi: 10.1016/0306-4530(82)90054-3.
Neonatal corticoid treatment delays development of the circadian rhythm of plasma corticosterone in rats. We therefore sought to determine whether fetal or neonatal exposure to ethanol, a substance which activates the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis, produces similar effects. Subjects were the offspring of dams fed a 5.0% w/v ethanol-containing liquid diet or pair-fed an isocaloric control diet during gestation weeks two and three or during postnatal week one. At birth (day 1), the fetal ethanol-exposed pups had significantly higher brain and plasma corticosterone levels than the pair-fed or normal controls; brain and body weights were unaffected. By day 3, brain and plasma corticosterone titers in the fetal ethanol-exposed pups declined to the levels of the pair-fed and normal controls, although brain weights were significantly reduced. Significantly higher p.m. than a.m. levels of plasma corticosterone first occurred on day 18 both in the fetal ethanol-exposed pups and in the pair-fed and normal controls. Thus, despite its causing elevated corticosterone levels at birth, fetal exposure to ethanol did not affect the onset of the pituitary-adrenal circadian rhythm. On the other hand, exposure to ethanol during the first neonatal week delayed the onset of the pituitary-adrenal rhythm from day 18 to day 21. However, even greater delays occurred in the neonatal pair-fed controls, suggesting that the delays following neonatal exposure were due to nutritional deficits rather than to alcohol per se. The developmental and long-term influences of elevated corticoid levels at birth in fetal ethanol-exposed rats on other aspects of pituitary-adrenal function remain to be determined.
新生大鼠接受皮质激素治疗会延迟血浆皮质酮昼夜节律的发育。因此，我们试图确定胎儿期或新生儿期接触乙醇这种能激活下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴的物质是否会产生类似影响。实验对象是母鼠的后代，这些母鼠在妊娠第2和第3周或出生后第1周，被喂食含5.0%（w/v）乙醇的液体饲料或等热量的对照饲料。出生时（第1天），胎儿期接触乙醇的幼崽脑和血浆皮质酮水平显著高于配对喂养组或正常对照组；脑重和体重未受影响。到第3天，胎儿期接触乙醇的幼崽脑和血浆皮质酮水平降至配对喂养组和正常对照组的水平，尽管脑重显著降低。胎儿期接触乙醇的幼崽以及配对喂养组和正常对照组中，血浆皮质酮水平首次在下午显著高于上午是在第18天。因此，尽管胎儿期接触乙醇会导致出生时皮质酮水平升高，但并未影响垂体-肾上腺昼夜节律的起始。另一方面，新生儿期第1周接触乙醇会使垂体-肾上腺节律的起始从第18天延迟至第21天。然而，在新生儿配对喂养对照组中延迟更为明显，这表明新生儿期接触乙醇后的延迟是由于营养缺乏而非乙醇本身。胎儿期接触乙醇的大鼠出生时皮质激素水平升高对垂体-肾上腺功能其他方面的发育和长期影响仍有待确定。
