Conclusions and Future Directions•Several non-significant results were seen on the EPM test; these tended to point to decreased anxiety-like behavior in EtOH-exposed animals

•EtOH exposure produced anxiety-like behavior in males, but not females, on LDB test

•We will do biochemical and electrophysiological studies to investigate the molecular bases behind our results

•We will also examine whether or not these results are similar in adolescent animals

Impact of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Development of Anxiety-Like Behavior in

AdultsCole JM, Varlinskaya EI, and Diaz MR

Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA

Background•95% of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders will have mental health problems [1]

•Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) during early pregnancy is associated with higher likelihood of anxiety during childhood [2]

•PAE on gestational day (G) 12, equivalent to the 2nd trimester of human pregnancy, produces social anxiety in adolescence [3]

•We aim to expand on prior studies by examining the development of generalized anxiety-like behaviors in adulthood

Methods•Pregnant female Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to (i.p.) ethanol (EtOH) or saline on G12.

•Adult offspring were tested for anxiety-like behaviors on the elevated plus maze (EPM) or the light/dark box (LDB) for 5 min.

•Before testing on the EPM, animals were socially isolated for 1 hour [4].

•Behaviors were video recorded and analyzed later by an experimenter blind to the treatment conditions

•Data were statistically analyzed using GraphPad Prism 6 software

References1. Fasworld.com2. O’Leary et. al, Pediatrics. 2010

3. Middleton et. al, Dev. Neuro. 2012

4. Spear et. al, Pharm. Biochem. Behavior. 2009

Elevated Plus Maze Light/Dark Box

% Open Arm Entries(Males)

Saline EtOH0

10

20

30

40

Tim

e (s

ec)

P = 0.0537

Saline EtOH0

10

20

30

40

Tim

e (s

ec)

Saline EtOH0

10

20

30

40

Tim

e (s

ec)

% Open Arm Time(Males)

Saline EtOH0

10

20

30

40

50

Tim

e (s

ec)

1 2 3 4 50.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

Minute

# o

f L

igh

t E

ntr

ies

Saline Male

EtOH Male

*

1 2 3 4 5-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Minute

# o

f L

igh

t E

ntr

ies Saline Female

EtOH Female% Open Arm Entries

(Females)

P = 0.5026

% Open Arm Time(Females)

P = 0.0576

P = 0.2096

P = 0.0007

Light Entries by Minute(Males)

Light Entries by Minute(Females)

P = 0.0937

We are thankful for the support of the Center for

Development and Behavioral Neuroscience (CDBN)