Pauli J, Wilce P, Bedi K S
Department of Anatomical Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.
Physiol Behav. 1995 Nov;58(5):1013-20. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(95)00120-8.
Previous research has indicated that the developing brain is vulnerable to the effects of alcohol exposure. Most of this research has used an experimental design in which animals where chronically subjected to alcohol for a lengthy period of time during gestation and/or the preweaning period. Recent evidence has indicated that the morphology of the brain and the subsequent behaviour of the animal may also be susceptible to alcohol administered for a short duration during specified periods of development. Wistar rats were exposed to 7.5 g/kg body weight of ethanol administered as a 10% solution via an intragastric cannula over an 8 h period either on the 5th (PND5) or the 10th (PND10) postnatal day of age. Gastrostomy controls received a 5% sucrose solution substituted isocalorically for the ethanol. Another set of pups raised by their mother were used as 'suckle controls'. All surgical procedures were carried out under halothane vapour anaesthesia. After the artificial feeding regimes all pups were returned to lactating dams and weaned at 21 days of age. The spatial learning ability of these rats was tested in the Morris water maze when they were between 41-54 days of age. This task requires the rats to swim in a pool containing water made opaque and locate and climb onto a submerged platform. The time taken to accomplish this is known as the "escape latency." Each rat was subjected to 24 trials over three days and a further trial on each of days 4 and 11 of the test period. Statistical analysis of the escape latency data revealed that both the PND5 and PND10 ethanol treated groups had significant deficits in their spatial learning ability compared with the control groups. However, there was no significant difference in the degree of impairment between the PND5 and PND10 rats. It is concluded that even short periods of alcohol exposure during brain development can cause lasting impairment of spatial learning behaviour in rats.
先前的研究表明，发育中的大脑易受酒精暴露的影响。大部分此类研究采用的实验设计是，在妊娠和/或断奶前期间，让动物长期慢性接触酒精。最近有证据表明，在特定发育阶段短时间给予酒精，大脑形态及动物随后的行为也可能会受到影响。将Wistar大鼠在出生后第5天（PND5）或第10天（PND10），通过胃内插管在8小时内给予体重7.5克/千克的乙醇，以10%的溶液形式给药。胃造口对照组接受等热量替代乙醇的5%蔗糖溶液。另一组由母亲抚养的幼崽用作“哺乳对照组”。所有手术操作均在氟烷蒸气麻醉下进行。在人工喂养方案结束后，所有幼崽都回到哺乳母鼠身边，并在21日龄时断奶。当这些大鼠41 - 54日龄时，在莫里斯水迷宫中测试它们的空间学习能力。该任务要求大鼠在含有不透明水的水池中游泳，找到并爬上一个水下平台。完成此任务所需的时间称为“逃避潜伏期”。每只大鼠在三天内接受24次试验，并在测试期的第4天和第11天各进行一次额外试验。对逃避潜伏期数据的统计分析表明，与对照组相比，PND5和PND10乙醇处理组的空间学习能力均有显著缺陷。然而，PND5和PND10大鼠之间的损伤程度没有显著差异。得出的结论是，即使在大脑发育期间短时间接触酒精，也会导致大鼠空间学习行为的持久损伤。
