Summary: New research indicates that binge drinking by mothers before and during pregnancy and while breastfeeding can increase the risk of mood disturbances and alcohol misuse in their offspring during adolescence.
Source: Frontiers.
New findings published in Frontiers in Psychiatry reveal that maternal binge drinking before conception and during pregnancy and lactation can adversely affect the emotional health and alcohol vulnerability of offspring. Using a rat model, researchers in Italy found distinct behavioral effects depending on drinking pattern: continuous, habitual alcohol intake was associated with increased anxiety-like behaviors in mothers and their pups, while intermittent or binge-pattern drinking was linked to depressive-like behavior in mothers and to anhedonia, despair-like responses, and a higher susceptibility to alcohol abuse in adolescent offspring. This study provides evidence that alcohol-induced alterations in mothers can be transmitted to the next generation.
It is often assumed that alcohol is easy to stop during pregnancy, as doctors advise. However, habitual drinkers do not always stop, and some women may believe that occasional social drinking is less risky than daily consumption. Lead author Dr. Carla Cannizzaro notes that these assumptions can underestimate the lasting consequences of intermittent high-dose alcohol exposure around the time of conception and throughout gestation and lactation.
To investigate these effects, researchers at the Università degli Studi di Palermo modeled two common human drinking patterns in female rats: Habitual Alcohol Drinking (HAD) and Binge Alcohol Drinking (BAD). The animals were given continuous access to two bottles—water and 20% alcohol—starting 12 weeks before pregnancy and continuing through gestation and nursing. Mothers were evaluated for changes in behavioral reactivity, anxiety-like behavior, and depressive-like behavior before conception. Male offspring were then tested from adolescence into early adulthood for behavioral traits and vulnerability to alcohol abuse.
The study found that female rats on an intermittent binge-drinking schedule developed prominent depressive- and anhedonic-like behaviors prior to conception, while those with continuous habitual drinking displayed more anxiety-like characteristics. During pregnancy and lactation the differences in absolute alcohol intake between groups diminished, but distinct behavioral signatures persisted.
Most notably, adolescent offspring of mothers exposed to a binge-drinking pattern showed signs of reduced responsiveness to normally rewarding natural stimuli, such as sweet tastes and social interactions, and exhibited increased “despair” behavior in stressful situations. These offspring were also uniquely prone to initiating alcohol use and to relapse-like drinking after forced abstinence, indicating an elevated vulnerability to alcohol abuse compared with offspring of control or habitually drinking mothers.
The authors propose that peri-gestational binge alcohol exposure may combine two mechanisms to increase offspring vulnerability: direct early exposure to alcohol and alcohol-driven molecular or epigenetic changes in the mother that are passed to the next generation. As Cannizzaro explains, chronic or excessive use of alcohol and other addictive substances can alter gene expression in ways that persist and may be inheritable, potentially influencing brain circuits involved in reward, motivation, and stress regulation.
Alcohol’s disruptive effects on brain reward systems are well documented: repeated high-dose or binge exposure can undermine homeostasis in neural pathways that regulate pleasure and motivation, which in turn promotes compulsive use, craving, loss of control, and severe withdrawal when intake stops. The present animal data suggest that such disruptions in mothers can have measurable behavioral consequences for their offspring during critical developmental windows, particularly adolescence—a period of increased risk for the onset of substance use.
One limitation acknowledged by the authors is that the research was conducted in rats, and animal models cannot capture every aspect of human behavior and social context. Nevertheless, rodent models are widely used and well-suited to study the biological and addictive properties of drugs and their effects on brain development. The consistency of the observed behavioral patterns across mothers and offspring strengthens the relevance of these findings for understanding risks in humans.
“Alcohol exerts powerful effects even when consumed intermittently at high levels,” says Cannizzaro. The researchers emphasize the importance of public health efforts to educate women of reproductive age about the potential long-term consequences of binge drinking before and during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.
Source: Emma Duncan – Frontiers
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
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Original Research: “Pre-conceptional and Peri-Gestational Maternal Binge Alcohol Drinking Produces Inheritance of Mood Disturbances and Alcohol Vulnerability in the Adolescent Offspring” by Anna Brancato, Valentina Castelli, Angela Cavallaro, Gianluca Lavanco, Fulvio Plescia and Carla Cannizzaro. Published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, April 23, 2018.
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00150
MLA: Frontiers. “Maternal Binge Drinking Linked to Mood Problems and Alcohol Abuse in Offspring.” NeuroscienceNews, 25 April 2018.
APA: Frontiers (2018, April 25). Maternal Binge Drinking Linked to Mood Problems and Alcohol Abuse in Offspring. NeuroscienceNews.
Chicago: Frontiers. “Maternal Binge Drinking Linked to Mood Problems and Alcohol Abuse in Offspring.” NeuroscienceNews. April 25, 2018.
Abstract
Pre-conceptional and Peri-Gestational Maternal Binge Alcohol Drinking Produces Inheritance of Mood Disturbances and Alcohol Vulnerability in the Adolescent Offspring
Binge alcohol consumption is rising among women of reproductive age, yet its consequences for offspring—particularly concerning inherited mood disturbances and increased risk for alcohol misuse—remain insufficiently explored. This study modeled Habitual and Binge Alcohol Drinking (HAD and BAD) in female rats using a two-bottle choice paradigm with 20% alcohol and water, beginning 12 weeks pre-conception and continuing through gestation and lactation. Female rats were evaluated for behavioral reactivity, anxiety-like, and depressive-like behavior before conception. Male offspring were then assessed from adolescence to early adulthood for behavioral phenotype and susceptibility to alcohol abuse. BAD females consumed and preferred larger amounts of alcohol pre-conception than HAD females; these differences lessened during pregnancy and lactation. Pre-conceptional BAD produced a predominantly depressive/anhedonic-like profile in mothers, while HAD induced increased anxiety-like behavior. In adolescent offspring, peri-gestational BAD did not affect open-field activity or elevated plus maze anxiety measures, but offspring of BAD dams displayed greater despair-like behavior and reduced social interaction compared with controls and HAD offspring. Crucially, only offspring exposed peri-gestationally to binge drinking showed increased vulnerability to alcohol abuse and relapse after forced abstinence. These results indicate that binge-like alcohol intake from pre-conception through weaning has significant effects on the affective phenotype of both mothers and offspring, including heightened risk of alcohol misuse in the next generation, underscoring the need for targeted public education on the harmful effects of peri-gestational alcohol exposure.