Prenatal exposure to cocaine and enriched environment - Effects on social interactions

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2006

Authors

Ana Magalhaes (Author) Other; Teresa Summavielle (Author) Other; Pedro Melo (Author) Other; Rui Rosa (Author) Other; Maria Amelia Tavares (Author) FMUP; Liliana De Sousa (Author) ICBAS

Journal

Title: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Vol. 1074

Pages: 620-631

ISSN: 0077-8923

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 8 Citations

Scopus - 8 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Clinical medicine

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-004-P9K

DOI: 10.1196/annals.1369.060

Abstract (EN): Exposure to cocaine throughout gestation may produce several deleterious outcomes in the offspring that include effects on neurotransmitter systems and structure of the central nervous system. Such changes are most likely correlated with behavioral alterations. Environmental enrichment (EE) in early stages is a factor that affects structural and behavioral development. This article examines the effects, upon social interactions, of EE during the first month of life in rats prenatally exposed to cocaine. Wistar dams were subcutaneously exposed to 60 mg/kg of cocaine divided in two daily doses from gestational day (GD)8 to GD22. Pair-fed controls were given saline vehicle in the same protocol. Offspring were distributed to the different environments in four experimental groups. Group 1: offspring from dams prenatally exposed to cocaine as previously described and reared in EE from postnatal day (PND)1 to PND28; Group 2: pups from cocaine-exposed dams and reared in a standard environment (SE); Group 3: pups from pair-fed saline-exposed dams and reared in EE; Group 4: offspring from saline-exposed dams and reared in SE. On PND21, 24, and 28, rats were examined in several social behavioral categories (play fighting, social investigation, comfort behaviors, and solicitation to play) for 10 min. Animals reared in SE do not display any differences due to treatment in the behavioral categories analyzed. Control offspring reared in EE presented decreased play fighting, decreased solicitation to play, and decreased social investigation compared to the control SE group, while cocaine-exposed animals reared in EE did not present these variations. These results suggest that EE rearing may unmask hidden effects of prenatal cocaine exposure.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 12