The effects of early handling on physiological and hormonal responses of rats exposed to
ethanol prenatally were studied. Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats from prenatal
ethanol (E), pair-fed (PF), and ad lib-fed control (C) prenatal treatment groups were either handled (H) or nonhandled (NH) during the preweaning period and tested in adulthood. Early handling eliminated the deficit in preweaning
weight gain observed in E compared to PF and C offspring. In adulthood, early handling eliminated the increased
hypothermia observed in E and PF compared to C males following an
ethanol challenge (2.0 g/kg, IP). In addition, H males displayed marginally less
hypothermia overall than NH males. In contrast, handling accelerated the return to preinjection temperature in PF and C females but had no effect on E females. There were no significant differences among E, PF, and C rats in
corticosterone (CORT) responses to
ethanol challenge (1.5 g/kg, IP), but both males (marginally) and females in the H condition displayed higher CORT levels overall than NH rats. Early handling also eliminated the increased peak CORT response to restraint stress in E compared to C females, but did not affect the more prolonged elevation of CORT in E compared to PF and C females. There were no differences among E, PF, and C females in hippocampal type I and type II
glucocorticoid receptor density or affinity. However, binding affinity of type II receptors was slightly but significantly increased in H compared to NH females. Together, these data indicate that early handling may modulate or attenuate some, but not all, of the adverse effects of fetal
ethanol exposure on offspring growth and physiological responsiveness.