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Prenatal Ethanol Exposure: Changes in Regional Brain Catecholamine Content Following Stress

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that fetal ethanol exposure (FEE) may have long‐term effects on the function of catecholaminergic neurons in different regions of the CNS. The present study is the first to examine the effects of FEE on regional brain catecholamine responses following acute stress (a single 60‐min restraint stress), repeated stress (single periods of restraint stress on 1, 5, or 10 consecutive days), and recovery from stress (recovery for up to 60 min in the home cage following a single 60‐min period of restraint stress). Both male and female offspring from FEE, pair‐fed (PF), and ad libitum‐fed control (C) groups were tested in adulthood to determine catecholamine content in the cortex, hypothalamus, and hippocampus. A single period of restraint reduced cortical norepinephrine (NE) content in FEE and PF animals compared with that in the cortex of C animals, and reduced hypothalamic NE content in FEE female offspring below that found in animals in all other groups. In contrast, hippo‐campal NE content was higher in FEE than in C animals following a single period of restraint; PF animals had intermediate levels of hippocampus NE and did not differ significantly from either FEE or C animals. Following repeated periods of restraint, cortical NE content was lower in FEE than in C animals; PF animals once again had intermediate levels of NE. Importantly, basal (non stressed) NE content did not differ among groups in any brain area examined. In addition, several significant changes in regional brain catecholaminergic responses to acute stress were observed in animals across all treatment groups. Females generally had significantly lower cortical NE levels than males following both single and multiple exposures to restraint. In addition, the cortical NE content decreased below non‐stressed levels in all groups following a single restraint period, and remained significantly below basal levels during the 60‐min recovery period, whereas the hypothalamic NE content was significantly decreased immediately following the restraint period but showed some recovery toward basal levels by 60 min. There were no significant changes over time in hippocampal NE level or in cortical or hypothalamic dopamine (DA) content following a single restraint stress. Following multiple periods of restraint, hippocampal NE levels were significantly increased and hypothalamic DA levels were significantly decreased in all animals compared with basal levels. These data suggest that the brain noradrenergic response to acute stress is particularly sensitive to the effects of FEE, and that with regard to the hypothalamus, male and female offspring were differentially affected. Furthermore, nutritional effects appear to play some role in mediating the changes in regional brain catecholamine content that are observed. In addition, stress effects on brain catecholamine content across all treatment groups were found to be both region and sex specific.