Effects of prenatal alcohol on homing behavior, maternal responding and open-field activity in rats

A radial-maze was used to study homing in offspring and maternal retrieval behaviors after prenatal exposure to alcohol. Pair-fed and untreated (ad lib control diet) groups were included and all offspring were either fostered or cross-fostered at birth. Offspring given ethanol prenatally exhibited a deficit in homing development and were retrieved significantly longer by ad lib control dams over the ten days of testing. The observed retrieval response may represent a compensation for the delayed development of the ethanol-exposed offspring. Consistent with our previous work, ethanol treatment had long-lasting effects on maternal body weight, offspring growth, and juvenile and adult activity as measured in the open-field. The findings suggest that these effects can be attributed to ethanol per se and not undernutrition or postnatal maternal influences. Further work aimed at identifying the stimulus properties underlying the complex maternal-infant interaction is needed in order to explain the observed differences in maternal retrieval response.