Postnatal exposure to cocaine in rats housed in an enriched environment: effects on social interactions

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2007

Authors

Ana Magalhaes (Author) Other; Teresa Summavielle (Author) Other; Maria Amelia Tavares (Author) FMUP; Liliana de Sousa (Author) ICBAS

Journal

Title: HUMAN & EXPERIMENTAL TOXICOLOGY

Vol. 26

Pages: 303-309

ISSN: 0960-3271

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 10 Citations

Scopus - 11 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Basic medicine

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-004-AW6

DOI: 10.1177/0960327106070458

Abstract (EN): This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of environmental enrichment (EE) in rats exposed to cocaine during the first month of postnatal life by examining several categories of social behaviour (play fighting, social investigation, comfort behaviours and invitation to play). Wistar rats were divided in four groups: pups exposed to cocaine hydrochloride (15 mg/kg body weight/day), sc, in two daily doses, from postnatal day (PND) 1 to 28 and reared in EE; exposed to cocaine as previously described and reared in standard environment (SE); saline-exposed and reared in EE; pups saline-exposed and reared in SE. On PND 21, 24 and 28, social interactions were examined for 10 min. Results show that cocaine animals reared in SE decreased the frequency of play solicitation. Control animals reared in EE exhibited decreased play fighting and social investigation behaviours compared to SE-reared rats. Animals postnatally exposed to cocaine when reared in EE displayed more comfort and invitation to play behaviours and decreased social investigation compared with SE-reared animals. The results suggest that in rats postnatally exposed to cocaine, EE rearing elicited differences in both processing of environmental stimuli and a response to social challenges.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7