Fetal Alcohol Exposure Reduces Dopamine Receptor D2 and Increases Pituitary Weight and Prolactin Production via Epigenetic Mechanisms.

ABSTRACT: Recent evidence indicated that alcohol exposure during the fetal period increases the susceptibility to tumor development in mammary and prostate tissues. Whether fetal alcohol exposure increases the susceptibility to prolactin-producing tumor (prolactinoma) development in the pituitary was studied by employing the animal model of estradiol-induced prolactinomas in Fischer 344 female rats. We employed an animal model of fetal alcohol exposure that simulates binge alcohol drinking during the first two trimesters of human pregnancy and involves feeding pregnant rats with a liquid diet containing 6.7% alcohol during gestational day 7 to day 21. Control rats were pair-fed with isocaloric liquid diet or fed ad libitum with rat chow diet. Adult alcohol exposed and control female offspring rats w

SUBMITTER: Gangisetty O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4624904 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature