Moderate prenatal alcohol exposure (mPAE) results in structural alterations to the hippocampus. Previous studies have reported impairments in hippocampal-sensitive tasks, but have not compared performance between male and female animals. In the present study, performance in hippocampal-sensitive spatial memory and anxiety behavior tests were compared across adult male and female saccharin (SACC) control mPAE Long-Evans rat offspring. Two tests of spatial memory were conducted that were aimed at assessing memory for recently acquired spatial information: A delayed spatial alternation task using an M-shaped maze and a delayed match-to-place task in the Morris water task. In both tasks, rats in SACC and mPAE groups showed similar learning and retention of a spatial location even after a 2-h interval between encoding and retention. A separate group of adult male and female SACC and mPAE rat offspring were tested for anxiety-like behaviors in the elevated plus-maze paradigm. In this test, both male and female mPAE rats exhibited a significantly greater amount of time and a greater number of head dips in the open arms, while locomotion and open arm entries did not differ between groups. The results suggest that mPAE produces a reduction in anxiety-like behaviors in both male and female rats in the elevated plus-maze.
Keywords: anxiety; elevated plus-maze; fetal ethanol; hippocampus; spatial alternation; spatial memory.
Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.