Behavioral Features and Blood Enzyme Activity in Offspring of Rats Conceived from an Alcohol-Intoxicated Father

Quite often, conception of a child occurs after consuming small doses of alcohol. However, effect of this factor on offspring has not been studied at all. The aim of this study was to examine the level of motor activity, anxiety-like and depressive-like behavior, sensitivity to analgesic effect of ethanol, as well as activity of the enzymes DPP-IV, PEP, and ADG in the blood of rats whose fathers received ethanol immediately before mating. As a result of the conducted experiments, it was found that the males conceived by the intoxicated fathers have significant differences in behavior compared to control animals. Thus, motor activity in the rats conceived by males under the influence of alcohol was 2-2.5 times less intense; they exhibited decreased severity of the anxiety-like and depressive-like behavior. In such animals, activity of DPP-IV and ADG was increased and activity of PEP in the blood was reduced. In the rats conceived by the fathers under the influence of alcohol, analgesic effect of ethanol was decreased, and there was also reduction in response of the activities of ADG, DPP-IV, and PEP enzymes to ethanol administration. It is assumed that a single use of ethanol by male rats immediately before mating leads to the decrease in methylation of the paternal inherited genes in offspring. As a result, activity of a number of enzymes could change, which leads to the change in the balance of neuropeptides involved in mediation of animal behavior.