Deleterious effect of ethanol on spatial learning and memory

Prenatal exposure to alcohol can result in fetal alcohol syndrome, first defined in the early 1970s, and is characterized by growth retardation, facial dysmorphologies, and a host of neurobehavioral impairments. Alcohol drinking has led to serious problems including health, ethical, social, economical etc. According to Islam rules alcohol can be freely used for all purposes except as a drink. Using radial maze we explored effects of alcohol on spatial learning memory in the rats born from the mothers administered by alcohol during different part of pregnancy period consisting of 1- first and 2- second half, and, 3- first, 4- second 5- third and forth 5 days of pregnancy period. Control group born from mothers reared in normal condition. The criterion for learning was two consecutive trials in which the animal enters all baited arms with no error. Our findings resulted in a superiority of the control group on the groups receiving alcohol during either the first or the second half of pregnancy period. In addition, the animals exposed to alcohol in the first half outperformed those in the second half of prenatal life. Thus, we concluded that the first half of the pregnancy period is more sensitive to alcohol effects. No noticeable variation was evident between the control group and the animals exposed to alcohol during the second half of the fetal life. All together, the present data led us to conclude that exposing the animals to ethanol during the fetal life can impair spatial learning. Moreover, the second 5 days of prenatal life is more sensitive to alcohol effects. From these considerations it can be said that alcohol impairs leaning in the animals via affecting a well-known area of brain involving in spatial leaning and memory hippocampus.