Department of Normal, Pathological and Clinical Physiology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
Physiol Res. 2013;62(Suppl 1):S89-98. doi: 10.33549/physiolres.932598.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of prenatal methamphetamine (MA) exposure and application of the same drug in adulthood on cognitive functions of adult female rats. Animals were prenatally exposed to MA (5 mg/kg) or saline (control group). The cognitive function was tested as ability of spatial learning in the Morris Water Maze (MWM). Each day of the experiment animals received an injection of MA (1 mg/kg) or saline. Our results demonstrated that prenatal MA exposure did not affect the latency to reach the hidden platform or the distance traveled during the Place Navigation Test; however, the speed of swimming was increased in prenatally MA-exposed rats compared to controls regardless of the treatment in adulthood. MA treatment in adulthood increased the latency and distance when compared to controls regardless of the prenatal exposure. Neither prenatal exposure, nor treatment in adulthood affected memory retrieval. As far as the estrous cycle is concerned, our results showed that prenatally MA-exposed females in proestrus/estrus swam faster than females in diestrus. This effect of estrous cycle was not apparent in control females. In conclusion, our results indicate that postnatal, but not prenatal exposure to MA affects learning of adult female rats.
本研究旨在探讨产前甲基苯丙胺（MA）暴露和成年后应用相同药物对成年雌性大鼠认知功能的影响。动物在产前暴露于 MA（5mg/kg）或生理盐水（对照组）。认知功能测试采用 Morris 水迷宫（MWM）测试空间学习能力。实验期间，每天给予 MA（1mg/kg）或生理盐水注射。我们的结果表明，产前 MA 暴露不会影响到达隐藏平台的潜伏期或在位置导航测试中行驶的距离；然而，与对照组相比，产前 MA 暴露的大鼠在游泳速度方面有所增加，无论成年后的治疗如何。与对照组相比，成年后的 MA 治疗增加了潜伏期和距离，无论产前暴露如何。产前暴露或成年后治疗均不影响记忆检索。就发情周期而言，我们的结果表明，处于发情前期/发情期的产前 MA 暴露的雌性大鼠比处于发情后期的雌性大鼠游泳速度更快。这种发情周期的影响在对照组雌性大鼠中并不明显。总之，我们的结果表明，产后而非产前 MA 暴露会影响成年雌性大鼠的学习能力。
