title: The effect of chronic cocaine exposure during pregnancy on the acquisition of operant behaviors by rhesus monkey offspring.
abstract: To explore possible long-term effects of gestational cocaine exposure in a nonhuman primate model, pregnant rhesus monkeys were treated from about 1 month of gestation until term with either 0 (N = 3), 0.3 (N = 3), 1.0 (N = 3), or escalating doses up to 8.5 (N = 3) mg/kg (IM), three times per day, 5 consecutive days per week. Despite these differences in cocaine exposure, the experimental groups did not differ significantly with respect to the postnatal growth of offspring over an 18-month period following birth. Beginning at 6 months of age, the behavior of offspring was monitored using an operant test battery that included five food-reinforced tasks designed to model aspects of learning, color and position discrimination, time estimation, short-term memory and attention, and motivation. Although the acquisition of each operant behavior by offspring progressed significantly during training between 6 and 18 months of age, this acquisition was not differentially affected by gestational cocaine exposure. It was concluded that, in a rhesus monkey model, chronic cocaine exposure during pregnancy had no significant effect on the offsprings' acquisition of operant behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurotoxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR 72079, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Gillam
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Paule
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D003042:Cocaine / Q000633:toxicity*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects; D009042:Motivation; D009294:Narcotics / Q000633:toxicity*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
chemical_list: D009294:Narcotics; D003042:Cocaine