Noradrenergic modulation of neuronal transmission in the offspring of amphetamine-treated rats.
The model of noradrenergic modulation of synaptic transmission between the entorhinal cortex and dentate gyrus was used to investigate the function of catecholaminergic neurones in the offspring of rats injected with dl-amphetamine during pregnancy (0.5 mg . kg-1 . day-1; s.c.). A conditioning train of pulses applied to the locus coeruleus produces an increase in the amplitude of the population spike evoked in the granule layer of the gyrus dentatus by perforant path stimulation. Results show that, in the offspring of amphetamine-treated rats, the potentiating effect of locus coeruleus stimulation was two to three times greater than in control animals (151 +/- 30 vs. 66 +/- 20%; p less than 0.05). This effect may be due to the changes in catecholamine metabolism and (or) catecholamine receptors observed in these animals and could help explain the behavioral alterations caused by amphetamine exposure in utero.
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000187:drug effects*; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects*
D000661:Amphetamine