Pharmacological reactivity to cocaine in adult rats undernourished at perinatal age: behavioral and neurochemical correlates.

VALDOMERO, A., ISOARDI, N., ORSINGHER, O., CUADRA, G.

NEUROPHARMACOLOGY

Elsevier

Lugar: Bristol, UK; Año: 2005 vol. 48 p. 538 - 538

0028-3908

p>The influence of neuronal alterations induced by early undernutrition on the stimulant effect of cocaine was assessed in adults rats submitted to a protein deprivation schedule at perinatal age. To evaluate the sensitization phenomenon induced by repeated cocaine administration, different groups of control (C) and deprived (D) rats received a daily injection of cocaine (5, 10 or 15 mg/kg, i.p.) for 16 days. Behavioral parameters were assessed every two days in an open-field. Dose-response curves obtained with different doses of cocaine used revealed a shift to the left in the locomotor activity curves of D rats compared to controls. Thus, D animals showed a clear behavioral sensitization to the lower dose of cocaine, whereas this phenomenon was only observed in C rats for the higher dose used. To correlate this differential development of sensitization with neurochemical par