Prenatal effects of alcohol on adult learning in rats

In an initial study, the rate of blood alcohol disappearance was not significantly different in pregnant compared to nonpregnant rats, but blood alcohol levels were significantly different depending on dose. In a second study, pregnant rats received daily administrations (p.o.) of ethanol (30% w/v) in single doses throughout gestation. Pair-fed vehicle-treated, and nondrug-treated rats fed ad lib served as controls. All pups were removed from their biological mothers at birth and were raised by nondrug-treated surrogate mothers. At five months of age, both male and female offspring prenatally exposed to ethanol weighed less than controls and female offspring performed significantly worse than the offspring of vehicle-injected pair-fed control mothers, on a two-way shock-avoidance task. There were no significant group differences, however, for either sex in water-escape maze learning.