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PRENATAL COCAINE ELIMINATES THE SEX-DEPENDENT DIFFERENCES IN ACTIVATION OBSERVED IN ADULT RATS AFTER COCAINE CHALLENGE
Citation:
Miller, D. AND F. Seidler. PRENATAL COCAINE ELIMINATES THE SEX-DEPENDENT DIFFERENCES IN ACTIVATION OBSERVED IN ADULT RATS AFTER COCAINE CHALLENGE. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-94/197 (NTIS PB94163763), 1994.
Description:
In the adult rat, acute administration of cocaine results in enhanced expression of certain behaviors. his activation is often referred to as "stereotypy" because of its repetitive nature. epeated exposure to the same dose of cocaine does not result in tolerance or a diminution of these behavioral responses. ather, an increased responsiveness to cocaine, termed "sensitization", is observed. emale rats, in comparison to male rats, display greater activation to a given dose of cocaine and greater sensitization with repeated exposure. s prenatal cocaine exposure can involve repeated exposure to the drug we examined the behavioral activation induced by an acute dose of cocaine. oung adult rats of both sexes received a challenge dose of cocaine to determine the long-term effects of repeated in utero exposure to cocaine (30 mg/kg daily) given between gestational days 8 to 20. owever, sex-dependent differences were found. s expected female offspring of dams exposed to saline in utero displayed greater activation to a 20 mg/kg s.c. dosage of cocaine than their male counterparts. owever, these sex differences were completely eliminated by prenatal exposure to cocaine. hat is, female rats receiving cocaine during the prenatal period showed no more activation to an acute dose of cocaine as young adults than either control males or those males receiving cocaine in utero. renatal exposure to cocaine may alter sexual differentiation of the brain.