Basal regulation of HPA and dopamine systems is altered differentially in males and females by prenatal alcohol exposure and chronic variable stress.

Effects of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) on central nervous system function include an increased prevalence of mental health problems, including substance use disorders (SUD). The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and dopamine (DA) systems have overlapping neurocircuitries and are both implicated in SUD. PAE alters both HPA and dopaminergic activity and regulation, resulting in increased HPA tone and an overall reduction in tonic DA activity.

Prenatal alcohol exposure reduces the proportion of newly produced neurons and glia in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus in female rats.

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) alters adult neurogenesis and the neurogenic response to stress in male rats. As the effects of stress on neurogenesis are sexually dimorphic, the present study investigated the effects of PAE on adult hippocampal neurogenesis under both nonstressed and stressed conditions in female rats. Pregnant females were assigned to one of three prenatal treatments: (1) alcohol (PAE)-liquid alcohol (ethanol) diet ad libitum (36% ethanol-derived calories); (2) pair-fed-isocaloric liquid diet, with maltose-dextrin substituted for ethanol, in the amount consumed by a PAE partner (g/kg body wt/day of gestation); and (3) control-lab chow ad libitum.