title: Effects of postnatal caffeine exposure through dam's milk upon weanling rats.
abstract: The effects of postnatal caffeine exposure received through mother's milk were examined in rat pups by administering 0.0125 or 0.05% caffeine solution to the dams throughout lactation. Offspring of caffeine-treated dams showed significantly earlier onset of auditory startle and air righting reflexes. No direct effects of treatment were observed on eight measures of open field activity. At weaning, high-dose caffeine pups exhibited a transient increase in caffeine acceptance in two-bottle taste preference tests and showed cyclic exaggerations in caffeine preference-aversion functions which persisted throughout the 22-day postweaning test period. The caffeine levels in the dams' milk had a 30-fold daily fluctuation reflecting the fluid ingestion pattern related to the light-dark cycle and caffeine elimination rate. Caffeine concentrations in the brains of the pups varied between 0.01 and 9.0 micrograms/g.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D002110:Caffeine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008892:Milk / Q000378:metabolism*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012018:Reflex / Q000187:drug effects; D013649:Taste; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D002110:Caffeine