Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Your baby doesn't have a choice. You do.

Alcohol and Fertility in Rats

(From the "Men have babies, too" department)

Authors Cicero TJ. Nock B. O'Connor L. Adams ML. Sewing BN. Meyer ER.

Source Life Sciences. 55(12):901-10, 1994.

Acute alcohol exposure markedly influences male fertility and fetal outcome in the male rat.

Abstract Although it is recognized that drugs ingested by pregnant females produce marked cognitive and physiological deficits in their offspring, the possibility that paternal exposure to drugs prior to mating may have adverse effects on fertility and fetal outcome has not received much attention.

The purpose of the present studies was to examine whether a single, acute exposure to alcohol influences the subsequent ability of adult male rats to mate and produce healthy and viable litters.

Our results showed that a relatively large dose of alcohol 24 hours prior to breeding had little effect on the mating behavior of male rats, but there were markedly fewer pregnancies in females mated with alcohol-exposed male rats than in controls.

Of equal importance, we found that, even when conception occurred and live births were produced, there were striking differences in fetal outcome. Alcohol-treated males sired many fewer pups than control males and there was a markedly enhanced mortality rate in their offspring.

Collectively, these data suggest that acute paternal alcohol administration 24 hours prior to breeding does not affect mating behavior, but results in a greatly diminished fertility rate and fewer and less viable offspring.

These studies suggest that paternal alcohol use may be as important as maternal alcohol abuse as a negative variable in pregnancy and fetal outcome.

 

 

FASD Home Page

NEW ZEALAND Resources

Fetal Alcohol Support Trust
(FAST)
c/o Shirley Winikerei
2 Simon Place
Hamilton

ph 07 847 6752

(Mon-Fri, Office Hours)

email: fast@xtra.co.nz

(Shirley welcomes inquiries from overseas.)

RATS

Much of the research indicating areas of potential harm to humans is obtained from studies of rat populations. While rats do not model human response exactly, there are enough similarities to make them by far the most favoured laboratory test animal for all sorts of research attempting to predict human response.