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Embryonic ethanol exposure impairs detour learning in chicks
L W Means1, K McDaniel, S N Pennington
1Psychology Department, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.
Insights
Ethanol injection during incubation significantly reduced hatching success and delayed pipping in chicks. Post-hatch, ethanol-exposed chicks showed impaired learning abilities, indicating developmental toxicity.
Area of Science:
- Embryology
- Developmental Toxicology
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Ethanol exposure during embryonic development can impact offspring health.
- Understanding the effects of ethanol on avian development is crucial for poultry science.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of ethanol injection at different incubation stages on chick hatching and post-hatch learning.
- To assess the developmental toxicity of ethanol in embryonic poultry.
Main Methods:
- Fertile eggs were injected with sterile water or 37.5% ethanol at pre-incubation, day 7, or day 14.
- Hatching success and pipping times were recorded.
- A detour learning task was administered to hatched chicks.
Main Results:
- Ethanol injection, regardless of timing, decreased hatching success.
- Early ethanol exposure (pre-incubation) significantly delayed pipping.
- All ethanol-exposed groups exhibited impaired learning, requiring more trials to reach criterion.
Conclusions:
- Ethanol exposure during incubation negatively affects avian embryonic development and hatching.
- Ethanol can cause lasting neurodevelopmental deficits, impairing learning in post-hatch chicks.
- Timing of ethanol exposure influences specific developmental outcomes like pipping delay.
Abstract:
Six groups of 30 fertile eggs each were injected with 200 microliters of either sterile water or a 37.5% (v/v) ethanol solution immediately before incubation or on days 7 or 14 of incubation. Regardless of day of injection, the ethanol groups had a lower proportion of chicks who completed pipping and hatching. Of the chicks surviving to pip and hatch, the group injected with ethanol immediately before incubation was delayed significantly in pipping compared to the other ethanol-injected groups and to the group injected with water immediately before incubation (p less than 0.05 in all cases). Also, compared to the chicks injected with water, the chicks in all ethanol groups required more trials to attain criterion on a detour learning task when tested 7-10 days after hatching (p less than 0.05).
