Summary
Prenatal alcohol exposure disrupts development, leading to a range of effects referred to as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). FASDs include physical, central nervous system, and behavioral alterations. Animal model systems are used to study the relationship between alcohol-related central nervous system damage and behavioral alterations, risk factors for FASD, mechanisms of alcohol-induced damage, as well as treatments and interventions. When using a rodent model, it is important to recognize that the timing of brain development relative to birth differs between humans and rodents. Thus, to model alcohol exposure during the third trimester equivalent, rats must be exposed during early postnatal development (postnatal days 4-9). Artificial rearing is one experimental paradigm that is used to expose neonatal rats to alcohol during this period of brain development. Neonatal rat pups are housed in an artificial rearing environment and automatically fed a milk diet substitute via an intragastric cannula to ensure adequate growth during the treatment period. Alcohol is delivered in the milk diet. This chapter provides a description of the methods needed for this administrative technique, including preparation of the artificial rearing environment, gastrostomy surgery, and care of artificially reared rat pups.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
1. Riley, E. P., and Meyer, L. S. (1984) Considerations for the design, implementation, and interpretation of animal models of fetal alcohol effects. Neurobehav. Toxicol. Teratol. 6, 97–101.
2. Dobbing, J., and Sands, J. (1979) Comparative aspects of the brain growth spurt. Early Hum. Dev. 3, 79–83.
3. Goodlett, C. R., and Johnson, T. B. (1997) Neonatal binge ethanol exposure using intubation: timing and dose effects on place learning. Neurotoxicol. Teratol. 19, 435–446.
4. Moore, D. B., Madorsky, I., Paiva, M., and Barrow Heaton, M. (2004) Ethanol exposure alters neurotrophin receptor expression in the rat central nervous system: Effects of neonatal exposure. J. Neurobiol. 60, 114–126.
5. Diaz, J., and Samson, H. H. (1980) Impaired brain growth in neonatal rats exposed to ethanol. Science 208, 751–753.
6. Pierce, D. R., and West, J. R. (1986) Alcohol-induced microencephaly during the third trimester equivalent: relationship to dose and blood alcohol concentration. Alcohol 3, 185–191.
7. Klintsova, A. Y., Scamra, C., Hoffman, M., Napper, R. M., Goodlett, C. R., and Greenough, W. T. (2002) Therapeutic effects of complex motor training on motor performance deficits induced by neonatal binge-like alcohol exposure in rats: II. A quantitative stereological study of synaptic plasticity in female rat cerebellum. Brain Res. 937, 83–93.
8. Kelly, S. J. (1996) Effects of alcohol exposure and artificial rearing during development on septal and hippocampal neurotransmitters in adult rats. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 20, 670–676.
9. Smith, A. M., Zeve, D. R., Grisel, J. J., and Chen, W. J. (2005) Neonatal alcohol exposure increases malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) levels in the developing cerebellum. Brain Res. Dev. Brain Res. 160, 231–238.
10. Clements, K. M., Girard, T. A., Ellard, C. G., and Wainwright, P. E. (2005) Short-term memory impairment and reduced hippocampal c-Fos expression in an animal model of fetal alcohol syndrome. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 29, 1049–1059.
11. Slawecki, C. J., Thomas, J. D., Riley, E. P., and Ehlers, C. L. (2004) Neurophysiologic consequences of neonatal ethanol exposure in the rat. Alcohol 34, 187–196.
12. Allen, G. C., West, J. R., Chen, W. J., and Earnest, D. J. (2004) Developmental alcohol exposure disrupts circadian regulation of BDNF in the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus. Neurotoxicol. Teratol. 26, 353–358.
13. Meyer, L. S., Kotch, L. E., and Riley, E. P. (1990) Alterations in gait following ethanol exposure during the brain growth spurt in rats. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 14, 23–27.
14. West, J. R., Hamre, K. M., and Pierce, D. R. (1984) Delay in brain growth induced by alcohol in artificially reared rat pups. Alcohol 1, 213–222.
15. Messer, M., Thoman, E. B., Galofre, A., Dallman, T., and Dallman, P. R. (1969) Artificial feeding of infant rats by continuous gastric infusion. J. Nutr. 98, 404–410.
16. Hall, W. G. (1975) Weaning and growth of artificially reared rats. Science 26, 1313–1315.
17. Diaz, J., Moore, E., Patracca, F., Schacher, J., and Stamper, C. (1982) Artificial rearing of pups with a protein-enriched formula. J. Nutr. 112, 841–847.
18. Ward, G. R., Huang, Y. S., Bobik, E., Zing, H. C., Mutsaers, L., Auestad, N., Montalto, M., and Wainwright, P. (1998) Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid levels in formulae influence deposition of docosahexaenoic acid and arachidonic acid in brain and red blood cells of artificially reared neonatal rats. J. Nutr. 128, 2473–2487.
19. Moore, W. A., Goldberg, S. J., and Shall, M. S. (2007) Effects of artificial rearing on contractile properties of genioglossus muscle in Sprague-Dawley rat. Arch. Oral Biol. 52, 133–141.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Dr. Wei-Jung Chen and Dr. Susan Maier for their helpful comments and suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Dominguez, H.D., Thomas, J.D. (2008). Artificial Rearing. In: Nagy, L.E. (eds) Alcohol. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 447. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-242-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-242-7_7
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-906-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-242-7
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols