Effects of early experience and dexamethasone on adrenocortical reactivity.

This investigation tested the hypothesis that changes in circulating adrenocortical hormones mediate the long term effects of shocking infant rats. Dexamethasone administered through the mothers' milk was used to block adrenocortical responses to peripheral shock stimulation by the young. Control experiments indicated that the dexamethasone was present in the pups as early as 2 days after the mothers began drinking water containing dexamethasone. Shock reduced adrenocortical reactivity under conditions where the mother and the young were capable of an adrenocortical response to the shock, where either the mother or the young could have a response, and where neither the mother nor the young could have an adrenocortical response to this early stimulation. These data do not support the hypothesis that a pituitary-adrenocortical response of either the mother or the young mediates the effects of stimulation in infancy on subsequent adrenocortical reactivity.