Smith M J, Pihl R O, Garber B
Neurobehav Toxicol Teratol. 1982 May-Jun;4(3):283-7.
Although cadmium is a well known toxicant, its effects at subtoxic doses on behavior have rarely been investigated. The present study examined the longterm effect on levels of spontaneous locomotor activity and performance in a learning task resulting from postnatal exposure to cadmium. Sixty-four male Sprague-Dawley rat pups were divided into seven treatment and one vehicle control group. Treated animals were intubated with CdCl2 from the sixth to fifteenth day of life at doses ranging from 0.25 to 7.0 mg/kg body weight. Activity was quantified in tilt cages at forty-five days of age and performance in an appetitively motivated spatial discrimination task, with reversal, was assessed at between ninety and ninety-four days of age in a T-maze. A significant increase in spontaneous locomotor activity was observed in rats treated with 0.25 mg/kg of cadmium. In general, cadmium treated animals performed better than control subjects during learning and reversal learning trials. Possible hypotheses accounting for these results are discussed.
尽管镉是一种广为人知的有毒物质，但其亚毒性剂量对行为的影响却鲜有研究。本研究考察了出生后接触镉对自发运动活动水平以及学习任务表现的长期影响。64只雄性斯普拉格-道利大鼠幼崽被分为七个处理组和一个溶剂对照组。从出生后第六天到第十五天，给处理组动物经口插管给予CdCl₂，剂量范围为0.25至7.0毫克/千克体重。在45日龄时，在倾斜笼中对活动进行量化，并在90至94日龄时，在T型迷宫中评估以食欲为动机的空间辨别任务（包括反转）中的表现。观察到用0.25毫克/千克镉处理的大鼠自发运动活动显著增加。总体而言，在学习和反转学习试验中，镉处理的动物表现优于对照动物。文中讨论了解释这些结果的可能假说。
