title: Day-by-day maturation of the long-term expression of cocaine sensitization acquired before weaning in the rat.
abstract: This study aimed to identify the ontogenetic period during which long-term expression of behavioral sensitization to cocaine begins to emerge. Rat pups aged 4, 8, 12, or 16 days received a pretreatment of 4 daily injections of 15 mg/kg sc cocaine paired with the test chamber for 45 min. Pups were then tested for sensitization in that context after abstinence intervals ranging from 2 to 10 days. On test days, pups were videotaped, and their behavior was scored later. Sensitization was detected after intervals of 2, 4, 5, or 9 days in pups aged 4-7, 8-11, 12-15, or 16-19 days during pretreatment, respectively. These results suggest that the mechanisms for long-term retention of sensitization mature incrementally in the rat, starting to emerge gradually after the 1st week of age, whereas those relevant to short-term retention and initiation of sensitization are present earlier.
authors.affiliation: Université de Liège, Laboratoire de Psychopharmacologie Expérimentale, Belgium. ezio.tirelli@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tirelli
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects; D003042:Cocaine / Q000494:pharmacology; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects*; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D003042:Cocaine