Acute paternal alcohol use affects offspring development and adult behavior

• Published in: Physiology & behavior 2007-05, Vol.91 (1), p.154-160
• Main Authors: Meek, Leslie R, Myren, Kirsten, Sturm, Juliane, Burau, Dawn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute; Addictive behaviors; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aggression - drug effects; Alcohol Drinking - adverse effects; Alcoholism; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Animals; Behavior; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body Weight - physiology; Central Nervous System Depressants - toxicity; Escape Reaction - drug effects; Ethanol; Ethanol - toxicity; Exploratory Behavior - drug effects; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Growth - drug effects; Growth and development; Locomotion - drug effects; Male; Medical sciences; Mice; Motor Activity - drug effects; Paternal exposure; Paternal Exposure - adverse effects; Piloerection - drug effects; Postural Balance - drug effects; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reflex, Startle - drug effects; Risk-Taking; Swiss Webster mice; Tooth Eruption - drug effects; Toxicology
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.02.004

Abstract Swiss Webster pups were fathered by sires given either an acute dose of alcohol (alcohol-sired) or saline (saline-sired) 12–24 h before mating. The same sires were used to father both groups of pups. Alcohol-sired pups were significantly lighter at birth and for the following three weeks than were saline-sired pups. Significantly more pups were fathered by saline-exposed sires, and dams carrying those pups had significantly longer gestations than those carrying pups of alcohol-using sires. More runts were born to the alcohol-sired group, and more pups in that group died over the next three weeks than in the saline-sired group. Significantly more pups in the saline-sired group achieved such developmental milestones as surface righting, clinging, the tail-pull reflex, rotation, linear movement and climbing an inclined surface earlier than did alcohol-sired pups. As adults, animals from the alcohol-sired group showed significantly less risk assessment behavior and longer latencies to such behaviors as stretched attention, flatback, freezing and defensive burying than did the saline-sired animals. Alcohol-sired animals contacted the stimulus object in the risk assessment test significantly sooner and more often than did the saline-sired group. In tests of aggression, alcohol-sired male offspring showed more frequent aggressive behaviors such as on-top, lateral attacks and jump-attacks, and significantly fewer defensive/fearful behaviors such as piloerection, tail rattling and jump-escape. This pattern of results suggests that exposure of the sire to one acute dose of alcohol before insemination caused some early developmental delays and that alcohol-sired animals are less fearful and more aggressive as adults than saline-sired animals.