Neuromotor development and response inhibition following prenatal ethanol exposure.

Pregnant rats were given liquid diet with ethanol ad lib, liquid control diet pair-fed to Group 1, or pelleted control diet ad lib. No differences were found in offspring birth weight or rate of growth over 5 postnatal weeks. Upper and lower incisors erupted earlier and palmar grasp disappeared earlier in pair-fed and alcohol animals, while all groups were alike in eye opening, ear unfolding, negative geotaxis, auditory startle, surface righting, cliff avoidance, free-fall righting and mesh climbing. However, ethanol exposed animals showed deficits in orienting ability at 2-7 days of age and in response inhibition in a punished step-down task at 35 days of age. Furthermore, preweaning handling eliminated the deficit in response inhibition. Taken together, these data indicate that without the confounding variable of undernutrition, prenatal ethanol exposure may differentially affects the development of systems involving sensory perception, motivation or inhibition, while systems involving physical, reflex, and locomotor development remain unaltered.