Long-Term Behavioral Consequences of Prenatal Binge Toluene Exposure in Adolescent Rats
Author(s): C Lôopez-Rubalcava, K. Chôavez-Alvarez, AG Huerta-Rivas, N Pôaez-Martôñnez, SE Bowen and SL Cruz
Abstract
The continued abuse of inhaled organic solvents, especially among women of childbearing age, raises the risk of long-term behavioral effects of maternal toluene abuse. In this study, the effects of short-term exposures to high toluene concentrations (i.e., “binges”) were tested in independent groups of adolescent rats with different toluene treatments: (a) acute: 30-day-old animals exposed for 30min to air (A) or 6,000 ppm toluene (T); (b) prenatal and postnatal: rats exposed to T or A from gestation days 8–20 and re-exposed to T or A from postnatal day (PN) 22 to PN30 (A/A, T/A, A/T, and T/T, resp.). On PN30, animals were evaluated in different tests. Postnatal toluene exposure produced anxiolytic-like effects in the burying behavior test, and the T/T group received the highest number of electrical shocks. Antinociception was observed in the T, A/T, and T/T groups in the hotplate test. All toluene treatments impaired short-term memory in the object recognition test, but only postnatal exposure impaired long-term memory in the passive avoidance test. Sensitization occurred in the T/T group in locomotor activity. These results indicate that prenatal exposure to a concentration of toluene that does not produce evident malformations can modify behavioral toluene’s effects in adolescent rats.
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