Investigating the Relationship between Hippocampal BDNF Gene Expression and Spatial Memory in the Open Field Test in Offspring Born from Rats Treated with Ethanol

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy causes damage to the mother and the developing fetus, especially the central nervous system. Exposure of pregnant mothers to ethanol activates cell death pathways and interferes in the expression of neurotrophic factors and spatial memory of children. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between hippocampal BDNF gene expression and spatial memory in the offspring of pregnant rats treated with ethanol, and which period of pregnancy the hippocampus suffers more damage from ethanol consumption. The pregnant rats were randomly divided into five groups (six in each group): the control group (received distilled water only) and four treatment groups that received ethanol (20%, 4.5 g kg-1) by oral gavage, in the first 5 days, the first decade, the second decade and the entire period of pregnancy, respectively. The half of offspring was sacrificed on the 30th day after birth according to ethical principles, and their hippocampal brain tissue was extracted. The other half of the children, who were not victims, were subjected to a behavioral test of spatial memory and cognitive memory using the open field test, 24 hours later. BDNF gene expression was measured by RT-PCR method. The mixture of 1 microgram of RNA and 1 microliter of cDNA synthesis primer was incubated for 5 minutes at 70 degrees. Then 2 microliters of nucleotide mixture, 4 microliters of reverse transcriptase enzyme buffer, 1 microliter of reverse transcriptase enzyme, 1 microliter of RNase inhibitor protein were added and incubated for 10 minutes at 25 degrees, one hour at 42 degrees, and 10 minutes at 70 degrees. For data analysis, SPSS and Excel Softwares and one-way ANOVA and Tukey tests were used. The results showed that ethanol administration during pregnancy induced spatial memory disorder (p < 0.001). Alcohol consumption during rat pregnancy led to fetal growth and development disorders and disorders related to learning and spatial and cognitive memory in children, which had the most adverse effects in the treated groups in the second decade and the entire period of pregnancy. It can be concluded that this part of the nervous system during this period of pregnancy suffers more damage from alcohol consumption.