"Behavioral responses to ethanol in rats perinatally exposed to low lead levels"

VIRGOLINI, M.B.; CANCELA, L.M.; FULGINITI, A.S.

NEUROTOXICOLOGY AND TERATOLOGY.

Año: 1999 vol. 21 p. 551 - 551

0892-0362

istar rats were exposed to 220 ppm of lead (Pb) in the drinking water from conception to the end of the nursing period (postnatal day 25). Maternal blood Pb levels atthis time were 25mg/dl. Male offpring were tested at the age of 35 or 70 days. We studied the anxiolytic response to 0.5–2.0 g/kg ethanol in an elevated plus maze test and preference for increasing ethanol solutions (2%, 4%, and 6%, v/v) in a freechoice paradigm; we also determined basal blood levels of corticosterone. Results demonstrated that, at 35 days of age, experimental rats were hypersensitive to the anxiolytic effect of ethanol and showed greater voluntary intake of this drug. In addition, 35-day-old Pb-treated rats exhibited higher basal levels of corticosterone as compared with those of controls. These differences disappeared at 70 days. Our findings are discussed in terms of either Pb-induced alterations in the development of the CNS or higher levels of corticosterone in experimental animals. Possible Pb