Beneficial effect of chronic nimodipine treatment on behavioral dysfunctions of aged rats exposed to perinatal ethanol treatment

The long-term effects of prenatal and early postnatal ethanol exposure were assessed in adult (5-month), aged (24-month), and senescent (30-month) rats on non-aggressive intermale social behavior, and on black-white discrimination and spatial learning behaviors. Furthermore, the effects of chronic application of the Ca2+ channel blocker nimodipine, which reportedly improves behavioral function in aging, were studied on the ethanol-induced behavioral deficits during aging. The results showed that the perinatal alcohol treatment suppressed social behavior by reducing the frequency and duration of social interactions at all ages. Black-white discrimination behavior and appetitively motivated learning in a hole-board were also markedly disturbed. Several measures of social and spatial learning behaviors of ethanol-exposed rats revealed progressive functional decline with aging. Chronic oral treatment with nimodipine improved the social activity and normalized the cognitive behavioral capabilities of aged and senescent rats exposed to ethanol. We concluded that: (1) the behavioral disabilities caused by perinatal ethanol toxicity are persistent in the rat lifespan and become more pronounced with aging; and (2) administration of nimodipine in the aging period improves, with a long-lasting efficacy, the ethanol-induced behavioral dysfunctions in aged rats.