Effects of one- and three-day binge alcohol exposure in neonatal C57BL/6 mice on spatial learning and memory in adolescence and adulthood

Abstract

Binge-like alcohol exposure during the early postnatal period in rats and mice causes deficits in spatial learning and memory that persist into adulthood. Wozniak et al. (2004) reported that heavy binge alcohol exposure on postnatal day 7 (PD 7) in C57BL/6 (B6) mice produced profound spatial learning deficits in the Morris water maze when tested in adolescence (P30–39); when tested in adulthood, however, the deficits were greatly attenuated. Using a similar PD 7 binge alcohol exposure paradigm in B6 mice, we tested whether a single-day (PD 7 only) alcohol treatment produced place learning deficits in both adolescence and in adulthood, and further tested whether a more extended (3-day, PD 7–9) alcohol exposure would induce more severe and enduring deficits. B6 mice were given either 2 subcutaneous injections of alcohol (2.5 g/kg each) 2 h apart on PD 7 or on PD 7–9, and compared with controls that received saline vehicle injections and controls that received no injections. The alcohol injections on PD 7 produced average peak blood alcohol concentrations of 472 mg/dL and evoked typical patterns of activated caspase-3-positive neurons in the cortex, hippocampal formation, and striatum 6 h after the last injection. Mice were given standard place training or random location training in the Morris water maze either as adolescents (PD 30–39) or adults (PD 70–79). The adolescents acquired the place learning more slowly than adults, and the alcohol treatments produced only modest place acquisition deficits. In contrast, both the PD7 and the PD 7–9 alcohol treatments resulted in large and significant spatial learning impairments in adults. In contrast to the previous findings of Wozniak et al. (2004), these results indicate that binge alcohol exposure in the 3rd trimester equivalent produces significant and enduring deficits in spatial learning in B6 mice.

The impact of prenatal alcohol exposure on social, cognitive and affective behavioral domains: Insights from rodent models

“…Studies have reported either less retention (An & Zhang, 2013; Gianoulakis, 1990; Wagner et al, 2014; Wozniak et al, 2004) or no change compared to controls (Dursun et al, 2006; Goodlett & Johnson, 1997; Wagner et al, 2014; Wozniak et al, 2004). Only one study reports decreases in probe task memory without accompanying altered learning (Zink et al, 2011).…”

“…The majority of the studies reviewed here were completed using the Morris water maze (MWM) task and measured both acquisition of a spatial memory and retention of the spatial memory during probe trials. There is a clear detrimental effect of PAE across a variety of doses, exposure times, and testing ages on acquisition during the MWM (An & Zhang, 2013; Dursun, Jakubowska-Doğru, & Uzbay, 2006; Gianoulakis, 1990; Girard, Xing, Ward, & Wainwright, 2000; Goodlett & Johnson, 1997; Means, Russ, Medlin, & Gray, 1986; Wagner, Zhou, & Goodlett, 2014; Wozniak et al, 2004). However, moderate doses, particularly during gestation, do not reliably impact learning and memory in either the MWM or Y-maze task (Cullen, Burne, Lavidis, & Moritz, 2014; Hamilton et al, 2014; Sanchez Vega, Chong, & Burne, 2013).…”

“…Rodent literature does suggest that age ameliorates, but does not completely reverse, MWM learning and memory deficits (Gianoulakis, 1990; Wagner et al, 2014; Wozniak et al, 2004). Other spatial tasks, including the Barnes maze and can- task, also show learning and memory deficits that are dependent upon both task difficulty and age of the animal (Kleiber, Wright, & Singh, 2011; Popović, Caballero-Bleda, & Guerri, 2006).…”

Low dose EGCG treatment beginning in adolescence does not improve cognitive impairment in a Down syndrome mouse model

“…The Morris water maze (MWM) task was conducted following a previously published protocol (Wagner, Zhou, & Goodlett, 2014). The mice began training in the water maze at ~60 days of age, by an experimenter blind to treatment and genotype.…”

Behavioral deficits induced by third-trimester equivalent alcohol exposure in male C57BL/6J mice are not associated with reduced adult hippocampal neurogenesis but are still rescued with voluntary exercise

“…Litters had 2–4 males, hence there were 1 or 2 males from the same litter per treatment combination. Dose was chosen based on the literature (Ieraci and Herrera, 2007; Ikonomidou et al, 2000; Lantz et al, 2012; Wagner et al, 2014; Wozniak et al, 2004). On PD21, all mice were weaned into groups of four by sex (Fig.…”