Increased aggressiveness and lower brain serotonin levels in offspring of mice given alcohol during gestation.

Abstract

Pregnant albino mice were given water or 1 g of alcohol/kg of body wt (20% wt/vol solution) by oral inhibition throughout gestation. Their adult male offspring were housed individually or in groups (10/cage) after weaning. They were then observed during 4-min paired interactions involving 1 singly-housed and 1 group-housed male. No differences between experimental and control groups were observed in gestation duration, number of litters and newborns or in mean body or brain weights of offspring. In paired interactions, the offspring of alcohol-treated females showed significantly more aggressive and locomotor activities than offspring of controls. The incidence of sociable and timid activities was not significantly different in the 2 groups. The whole brain serotonin concentrations of the alcohol-treated offspring were significantly below values in singly- and group-housed mice, suggesting that depletion of serotonin was due in part to alcohol treatment during gestation. Brain catecholamine levels in the 2 groups were not significantly different. Since alcohol provided < 10% of the mothers'' daily calorie intake, nutritional deficiency apparently does not account for behavioral and biochemical changes observed.