Effects of gestational cocaine exposure on rat olfactory preference behavior and (2012)

Undergraduates: Nisel Desai, Townsend, Leah Williams, Sarah;Ross, Brittany; Radcliffe, Marlana; Barber John;

Faculty Advisor: Josephine Johns
Department: Exercise & Sport Science

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Maternal behavior is adversely affected by gestational cocaine exposure in humans

and rodent models, resulting in deficits in appetitive and consummatory behaviors during the postpartum. In utero cocaine exposure impairs rat pups’ ability to elicit a maternal response. Which pup-produced cues are different and whether

cocaine treatment alters dam response toward cues is unknown. Olfactory cues are important for the initiation and maintenance the maternal response in animal models. These experiments measure maternal olfactory preference behavior

towards pup urine from different prenatal exposure conditions and investigate the neural circuitry of motivational pathways through c-fos mapping. Nulliparous Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three treatment groups (n=5-8 each):chronic cocaine (CC: 30 mg/kg/day), chronic saline (CS) and untreated (UN). CC and

CS dams received subcutaneous injections from gestational day (GD) 1-20. Olfactory

preference behavioral tests were conducted during gestation (GD 19), and post-partum days (PPD) 1, 3 and 5. Maternal motivation was evaluated by conducting a 10-minute test using a double alley modified cage apparatus. The rat actively chose

whether to interact with a tea strainer that contains a cotton ball soaked in UN pup-

urine, or CC-treated pup urine, or no urine (for GD19 only). GD 19 data controls for naturally occurring side preferences as a confounding variable and validates the study design.