title: Neonatal exposure to a high level of ACTH4-10 impairs adult learning performance.
abstract: Male offspring of Sprague-Dawley dams were injected with 25 micrograms of ACTH4-10 or the vehicle on days 2 through 7 postpartum. Peptide treated animals exhibited a marked motor response to the peptide injection. Adrenal weights of these animals were consistently heavier than littermate controls in both the developing and adult animals. ACTH4-10 treated neonates exhibited significantly poorer learning performance in the shuttle box and were slower to acquire the reversal learning problem of a visual discrimination task under light shock levels. In addition, these animals also exhibited an exaggerated startle response and a stronger thigmotaxis response in the open field than controls. These results indicate that exposing the developing nervous system to relatively high levels of ACTH4-10 can produce marked long-term effects on behavior.
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000187:drug effects; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D009074:Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D009074:Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones; C011394:ACTH (4-10)