Vaillancourt C, Boksa P
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Douglas Hospital Research Center, Verdun, Quebec, Canada.
Neuroreport. 1998 Sep 14;9(13):2953-9. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199809140-00007.
Schizophrenia is associated with both increased dopaminergic activity and perinatal complications. To test whether dopamine-mediated behavior can be altered by birth complications, we investigated effects of amphetamine (AMPT) on activity levels in adult rats that had been born vaginally or by Caesarean section (C-section) from isoflurane-anesthetized dams with or without addition of 10 min global anoxia. For comparison with our previous results, we also included rats born by C-section from decapitated dams. The main finding is that rats born by C-section from isoflurane-anesthetized dams, either with or without added anoxia, showed greater AMPT-induced activity as adults compared to vaginally born controls. C-section from decapitated dams also enhanced AMPT-induced activity, however the time course differed from that following maternal anesthesia. Thus subtle alterations in birth procedure can produce long-lasting increases in dopamine-mediated behavior, supporting a role for birth complications in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
