title: Behavioral effects of acute and chronic administration of caffeine in the rat.
abstract: This study investigated the effects of acute and chronic caffeine treatment on behavior in the social interaction, holeboard and home-cage aggression tests and on proconvulsant actions with pentylenetetrazol. Acutely-treated rats received an IP injection of caffeine (20 or 40 mg/kg). Chronically-treated rats received caffeine in their drinking water for 21 days (50 or 100 mg/kg/day) followed by an injection of caffeine on the test day (20 or 40 mg/kg respectively). Acutely, the higher dose of caffeine (40 mg/kg) decreased levels of social interaction. In the holeboard test, 20 mg/kg of acute caffeine increased motor activity whilst 40 mg/kg reduced head-dipping behavior. In the home-cage aggression test, acute caffeine (40 mg/kg) reduced offensive aggressive behaviors. After chronic treatment with caffeine none of these behaviors differed significantly from controls. After both acute and chronic treatment, caffeine (20 and 40 mg/kg) was proconvulsant with pentylenetetrazol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology School of Pharmacy, University of London, U.K.
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: File
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wilks
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D002110:Caffeine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012016:Reference Values; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D002110:Caffeine; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole