Enduring behavioral effects of weaning-through-puberty cocaine dosing in the rat

摘要: To determine whether cocaine administration during a developmental period corresponding to middle and late childhood results in enduring changes behavior, we injected rats with 5 or 20 mg/kg/d of s.c. from weaning (postnatal day 21; P21) through P60; controls included uninjected vehicle-injected controls. The 20-mg/kg dose resulted transient, male-limited weight reduction for the last 10 days dosing, which rapidly recovered normal after dosing ceased. Approximately months later, subjects were given brief battery behavioral tests. Female 20-mg received fewer reinforcements than control DRL-20 task. also displayed altered patterns cocaine-stimulated open-field activity. No significant lasting effects seen males. These data suggest that central nervous system retains sufficient plasticity into later development produce long-lasting functional response drug consumption rat equivalent produces very long plastic behavior.