Summary
Animal models of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have been instrumental in isolating alcohol as a teratogen and demonstrating behavioral and neural effects. There are a number of different models for rodents with various strengths and weaknesses. A three-trimester model of FASD is described here; the model uses intragastric intubation of both pregnant dams and pups to mimic alcohol exposure across all three trimesters in humans. The model does not use expensive equipment and is relatively easy to accomplish. The model allows excellent control of alcohol dose and uses an oral route of administration. There are no undernutrition effects with the doses used here. A drawback of the model is the stress of the intubation procedures and ways in which to minimize this stress are discussed. In addition, a method to measure blood alcohol levels is described.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse grant RO1 11566 to S. J. K. A special thanks to Dr. Tuan D. Tran who was instrumental in the development of the three trimester model.
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Kelly, S.J., Lawrence, C.R. (2008). Intragastric Intubation of Alcohol During the Perinatal Period. In: Nagy, L.E. (eds) Alcohol. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 447. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-242-7_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-242-7_8
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