title: Gender differences in behavioral changes elicited by prenatal methamphetamine exposure and application of the same drug in adulthood.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to compare the response to sub-chronic application of methamphetamine (MA) in adulthood in male and female rats prenatally exposed to the same drug. The spontaneous locomotor activity and exploratory behavior of adult male and female rats prenatally exposed to 5 mg/kg MA or saline (SAL) were tested in a Laboras apparatus (Metris B.V., Netherlands) for five consecutive days, 1 hr daily. MA 1 mg/kg or SAL were used as a challenge prior to testing. Our results showed that rats prenatally exposed to MA were more sensitive to sub-chronic administration of MA in adulthood than prenatally SAL-exposed rats. However, this sensitizing effect of prenatal MA exposure was manifested differently in males and females. In contrast, prenatal MA exposure decreased baseline locomotion in females. This study indicates that gender plays an important role in the sensitivity to MA during prenatal development and in adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Normal, Pathological and Clinical Physiology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Ke Karlovu 4, 120 00 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Barbora
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schutová
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hrubá
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rokyta
authors.forename: Romana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Slamberová
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D008694:Methamphetamine