title: Repeated postnatal phencyclidine administration in female juvenile rat delays onset of puberty but has no effect on pentylenetetrazol-induced seizure-susceptibility.
abstract: The effects of chronic phencyclidine (PCP) treatment on sexual maturation and seizure-susceptibility in the developing female rat were studied. Postnatal female rats were injected once daily with 5 mg/kg PCP from Day 5 till Day 15 and were observed for sexual maturation--vaginal opening and estrus cyclicity were used as indices of sexual maturation. PCP-treated rats showed a delay in both vaginal opening and in estrus cyclicity compared to saline-treated pair-fed controls. On postnatal Day 21, PCP-treated rats and saline-treated controls were tested for seizure-susceptibility using the pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizure paradigm. PCP-treated female rats did not differ from saline-treated controls in their susceptibility to PTZ-induced seizures. In conclusion, chronic PCP administration during development in female rats disrupts sexual maturation but has no short-term effect on seizure susceptibility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sircar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004971:Estrus / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D010060:Ovulation / Q000187:drug effects; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole; D010622:Phencyclidine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced*; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000187:drug effects*; D014621:Vagina / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010622:Phencyclidine; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole