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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Construction of Vapor Chambers Used to Expose Mice to Alcohol During the Equivalent of all Three Trimesters of Human Development
Published on: July 13, 2014
The role of dietary fat in alcohol's prenatal effects
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. e.abel@wayne.edu
Abstract:
Pregnant rats were fed a control diet or high saturated fat diet (lard) for 6 weeks prior to breeding and continued to consume these diets during pregnancy. Beginning on gestation day 8, rats in each diet group were intubated with 5.5 or 0 g/kg alcohol. Rats in the 0 g/kg group were pair-fed to those in their respective 5.5 g/kg groups. Offspring were weighed at birth. On postnatal days 18 and 20, they were tested for passive avoidance learning and locomotor activity, respectively. Animals prenatally exposed to alcohol weighed less at birth and at weaning time (21 days of age) and required more trials to reach criterion in the passive avoidance test but did not differ in activity. Diet did not affect any of these measures significantly nor were there any significant interactions. We conclude that high saturated fat from lard does not influence alcohol's prenatal effects.
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