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EPA Biofuels Research: Effects of Inhaled Ethanol on Cortical Functions in the Offspring of Rats Exposed During Gestation.**
Citation:
OSHIRO, W. M., V. C. MOSER, KATHY L. MCDANIEL, T. E. Beasley, AND P. J. BUSHNELL. EPA Biofuels Research: Effects of Inhaled Ethanol on Cortical Functions in the Offspring of Rats Exposed During Gestation.**. Presented at Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, March 11 - 15, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
Due to the increased interest in ethanol blends as an alternative fuel source, there is a need to assess their possible health risks to sensitive populations
Description:
Due to the increased interest in ethanol blends as an alternative fuel source, there is a need to assess their possible health risks to sensitive populations. Specifically, ethanol is known to alter cortical functions such as attention, processing speed, movement, working memory, and response inhibition in the offspring of mothers consuming even moderate amounts of oral ethanol during gestation. Thus, dose-effect relationships are being assessed in the offspring of dams exposed to a range of gasoline-ethanol blend ratios. Beginning with ethanol alone we exposed 72 pregnant dams to inhaled ethanol at concentrations of 0, 5K, 10K, or 21K ppm for 6 h/day from gestational day 9 20. Adult offspring (n=10/sex/group) received place training in the Morris water maze beginning on postnatal day (PND) 76, and thereafter were tested using a matching-to-place paradigm in which the platform was moved to a different location each day. There were no significant differences in improvements in latency across each daily pair of trials. Treated rats showed a slightly slower swim speed and differences in spatial search strategy; however, these effects varied by sex and across days and were mostly obtained in the lower dose groups. Beginning on PND90 another set of male offspring (n=8/group) were trained to perform a choice reaction time (CRT) task. Preliminary results show no group differences on accuracy or movement times; however, a transient increase in decision time in the 5K and 10K ppm groups, and an increase in early nose removals, a measure of impulsivity, was observed during CRT performance in the 21K ppm group. These effects are consistent with effects of prenatal oral ethanol exposure in animals and humans on attention and impulsivity, but not on working memory. These findings suggest that inhalation of ethanol during pregnancy may impact some cortically-mediated behaviors in the offspring. This abstract does not reflect EPA policy.