Moderate prenatal alcohol exposure suppresses the TLR4-mediated innate immune response in the hippocampus of young rats.

•Moderate prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) itself induced a long term up-regulation of TLR4-mediated inflammatory response in the hippocampus of young rats.•Moderate PAE led to suppressed innate immune reaction to direct LPS challenge in the hippocampus of young rats.•PAE following LPS administration significantly down regulated MyD88-independent pathway of TLR4 response.