We have recently taken advantage of a new limited access model of binge-like ethanol intake to expose pregnant C57BL6/J mice to ethanol for 2 hours each day throughout gestation. Daily maternal ethanol intakes of 5-6 g/kg produced a number of behavioral deficits in adult and adolescent offspring. In particular, hypnotic sensitivity to ethanol was reduced at postnatal day (P) 30 and P90 (p<0.01) possibly suggesting that prenatal ethanol exposure alters the normal development GABAA receptor systems. The goals of this proposal are to (1) determine whether maternal DID alters hypnotic and GABAA receptor sensitivity to several drugs with actions at the receptor and (2) to examine the expression of various GABAA receptor subunits in the adolescent and adult offspring of these mice.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 120 publications