Environmental enrichment reverses increased addiction risk caused by prenatal ethanol exposure.
Drug Alcohol Depend
; 191: 343-347, 2018 10 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30176547
ABSTRACT
Prenatal ethanol exposure (PE) leads to multiple cognitive and behavioral deficits including increased drug addiction risk. Previous studies have shown that rearing environment plays a significant role in impacting addiction risk. In the present study, we investigated if environmental enrichment during development could be effective in lowering the PE-induced increase in addiction risk. To simulate heavy drinking during pregnancy in humans, pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats received ethanol (6 g/kg/day) or vehicle through intragastric gavage on gestation days 8-20. After weaning, the offspring were reared in either an enriched environment (EE) including neonatal handling and complex housing or an impoverished environment (IE) consisting of barren, single housing. Adult male offspring were then tested for locomotion, performance on the elevated plus maze, and amphetamine self-administration under a progressive ratio reinforcement schedule. Overall, EE rats, compared to IE rats, showed reduced locomotor activity in a novel environment and lower levels of anxiety, irrespective of prenatal treatments. Prenatal ethanol exposure increased amphetamine self-administration at both doses tested (0.02 and 0.05 mg/kg/infusion) and in each case EE, relative to IE, reversed this effect. These findings suggest that postnatal environmental complexity plays a determining role in addiction risk after PE.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Efectos Tardíos de la Exposición Prenatal
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Conducta Adictiva
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Etanol
/
Ambiente
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Anfetamina
Tipo de estudio:
Etiology_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Animals
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Pregnancy
Idioma:
En
Año:
2018
Tipo del documento:
Article