Prenatal ethanol exposure affects brain development and causes neural impairment, leading to both cognitive and behavioral consequences in the offspring. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of prenatal exposure to small amounts of alcohol on social play behavior in adolescent male offspring. Swiss mice were prenatally exposed to ethanol by feeding pregnant dams with a liquid diet containing 25% alcohol-derived calories during gestation (alcohol group). They were then compared to both pair-fed dams that received an isocaloric liquid diet containing 0% alcohol-derived calories (pair-fed group) and dams with ad libitum access to a liquid control diet (control group). Additionally, maternal behavior was evaluated in terms of neural activation indexed via c-fos expression in the prefrontal cortex. Although dams exposed to alcohol during pregnancy did not alter their maternal behavior, the offspring presented a decrease in their social play behavior compared with both control and pair-fed offspring. The decrease in social play behavior may be associated with a decrease in number of c-fos-positive cells in the prefrontal cortex. The exposure to small amounts of alcohol during intrauterine development causes both a deficit in social play behavior and a reduction in the neuronal activity seen in the prefrontal cortex.

产前乙醇暴露会影响大脑发育并导致神经损伤，从而导致后代的认知和行为后果。因此，本研究的目的是调查产前暴露于少量酒精对成年男性后代社交行为的影响。通过给妊娠的母鼠喂食含25％酒精衍生卡路里的流质饮食，使瑞士小鼠在产前暴露于乙醇（酒精组）。然后将它们与接受等热量流质饮食（含0％酒精衍生的卡路里）的成对喂养的母乳（成对喂养的组）和随意摄入液体对照饮食的成对雌性（对照组）进行比较。此外，根据前额叶皮质中c-fos表达所指示的神经激活，评估了母亲的行为。尽管在怀孕期间暴露于酒精的水坝不会改变其母亲的行为，但与对照和成对喂养的后代相比，后代的社交行为却有所下降。社交游戏行为的减少可能与前额叶皮层中c-fos阳性细胞数量的减少有关。在子宫内发育过程中接触少量酒精会导致社交活动行为减少和前额叶皮层中神经元活动的减少。