Arginine vasopressin (AVP) synthesis, storage and osmotically stimulated release are reduced in young adult rats exposed prenatally to ethanol (PE). Whether the reduced release of AVP to the osmotic stimulus is due to impairment of the vasopressin system or specifically to an osmoreceptor mediated release is not known. The present experiments were done, therefore, to determine if a hemorrhage-induced AVP response would also be diminished in PE exposed rats. Pregnant rats were fed either a control liquid diet (no prenatal ethanol, NPE) or a liquid diet with 35% of the calories from ethanol from day 7-21 of pregnancy. Offspring were weaned at 3 weeks of life. At 11 weeks of age femoral arterial catheters were surgically placed, and blood volumes determined at 12 weeks. Three days later, two hemorrhages of 10% of the blood volume were performed with samples taken prior to and 10 minutes after the hemorrhages. Following a 20% blood loss, plasma AVP was 19% higher in NPE rats than in the PE rats despite no differences in mean arterial blood pressure. Also, hypothalamic AVP mRNA and pituitary AVP content were reduced in PE rats. Furthermore, confirming an earlier report of gender difference in AVP release, the hemorrhage-induced hormone response was two-fold greater in female rats than male rats regardless of previous ethanol exposure. These studies demonstrate that the AVP response to hemorrhage is reduced in PE rats independent of differences in MABP. The data are compatible with a theory of a reduced number of hemorrhage responsive vasopressinergic neurons capable of stimulated AVP release in PE rats.