Enduring effects of prenatal cocaine administration on emotional behavior in rats

The present studies sought to determine whether prenatal cocaine administra tion (15 mg/kg b.i.d. between gestational ages 1-20) had enduring effects o n emotional behavior of rats. Rats prenatally treated with cocaine interact ed less with other rats in the social interaction test of anxiety at both 3 0 and 120 days of age. However, there were no differences in the elevated p lus maze test of anxiety. Rats prenatally treated with cocaine were signifi cantly more immobile in the forced-swim test at 60 and 120 days of age. In addition, animals exposed to prenatal cocaine were more sensitive to the en hancing effect of phencyclidine (2.0 mg/kg) on startle responses to an acou stic stimulus. The cocaine-treated animals tested at 50 to 60 days of age s howed higher levels of prepulse inhibition, in comparison to the saline gro up, after vehicle pretreatment, but not after phencyclidine. Although there were gender differences in the expression of some of these behavioral task s, there were no gender differences in the effects of cocaine. These findin gs indicate that when emotional behavior is altered by prenatal cocaine adm inistration, the effects are enduring. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All r ights reserved.