Effect of chronic MK-801 and/or phenytoin on the acquisition of complex behaviors in rats.

The purpose of the present experiment was to assess the effects of chronic MK-801 (an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist) and/or phenytoin (a sodium channel blocker) treatment on behavioral acquisition and performance in rats. Learning, audio/visual discrimination and motivation were modeled using incremental repeated acquisition (IRA), audio/visual discrimination (AVD) and progressive ratio (PR) tasks, respectively. MK-801 and/or phenytoin were administered daily, 7 days/week by orogastric gavage beginning just after weaning on postnatal day (PND) 23 and continuing until PND 306. Monday through Friday behavioral assessments began on PND 27 and continued until PND 430. Throughout treatment, subjects in the high dose MK-801 (1.0 mg/kg/day) and the high dose drug combination (1.0 mg/kg/day MK-801+150 mg/kg/day phenytoin) groups exhibited decreased body weight gains compared to control subjects. For these two affected groups, response rates were also decreased in all tasks. Task acquisition, as evidenced by an increase in response accuracy, was decreased for both these groups in the AVD task, but only for the high dose MK-801 group in the IRA task. The data suggest that chronic MK-801 treatment adversely affects the acquisition of IRA and AVD task performance and that the inclusion of phenytoin in the MK-801 dosing regimen blocks some of the adverse effects of chronic MK-801 treatment on IRA task acquisition. These findings are in marked contrast with those observed in nonhuman primates and suggest important species differences associated with chronic exposure to compounds that block NMDA receptors and/or sodium channels.

Nicotine increases sensory gating measured as inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex in rats.

Chronic nicotine administration has been reported to increase acoustic startle response (ASR) amplitude in rats, which has been offered as evidence that some dosages of nicotine can enhance attention. The present experiments examined effects of acutely administered nicotine on amplitude and pre-pulse inhibition (PPI) of acoustic startle in rats. PPI, the decrease in ASR amplitude by a stimulus preceding the startle-eliciting event, reflects pre-attentive neural processes underlying sensory gating. Nicotine had a biphasic dose effect on startle amplitude, with increases at lower dosages (0.01 mg/kg) and decreases at higher dosages (0.5-5.0 mg/kg SC). Lower dosages of nicotine (0.001-0.01 mg/kg) increased PPI and the increase at 0.001 mg/kg occurred independently of changes in ASR amplitude. These results confirm that increases in PPI are not dependent upon changes in ASR amplitude. Results are consistent with nicotine's enhancements of performance on cognitive tasks in humans and are the first reported use of the PPI paradigm to model such effects. These findings indicate that ASR paradigms are useful to study effects of nicotine.

Similar effects of amphetamine and methylphenidate on the performance of complex operant tasks in rats.

Methylphenidate and D-amphetamine are central nervous system stimulants that have been suggested to share certain behavioral and neurochemical effects. The current study was undertaken to determine whether methylphenidate and D-amphetamine have similar effects on the performance of a battery of complex operant tasks in rats. Thus, the effects of amphetamine (0.1-6.0 mg/kg, i.p.) and methylphenidate (1.12-18.0 mg/kg, i.p) on the performance of rats in three complex food-reinforced operant tasks were examined. The tasks (and the brain functions they are intended to model) included: (1) conditioned position responding (auditory/visual/position discrimination); (2) incremental repeated acquisition (learning); and (3) temporal response differentiation (time estimation). In addition, each of these tasks was paired with a progressive ratio task to assess drug effects on the rats' motivation to lever press for the food reinforcers used. Consistent with their effects in other behavioral paradigms, methylphenidate and D-amphetamine produced very similar patterns of disruption of the four tasks. Drug-induced changes in the endpoints of the progressive ratio task generally paralleled changes in the other three tasks, suggesting a major role for appetitive motivation in the effects of these agents. Several effects of these agents seen in the current study are consistent with their effects in children with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder. These data further validate the use of this battery of operant tasks for the characterization of pharmacological agents, and suggest that findings using these tasks may be predictive of what is seen in humans.

Sex differences in effects of opioid blockade on stress-induced freezing behavior.

The present experiment examined the effects of naloxone on freezing behavior in male and female rats following stress and no-stress conditions. Twelve male and 12 female Wistar rats were exposed to 10 min of mild, unpredictable footshock stress and to a comparable no-stress condition. Immediately following stress or no-stress conditions, subjects were injected with naloxone or saline, and two independent observers measured freezing behavior. In male rats, naloxone potentiated freezing following stress but had no effect on freezing following no-stress. In females, naloxone did not affect freezing regardless of stress conditions. These results reveal a sex difference in effects of naloxone on freezing behavior and suggest that sex differences may exist with respect to the role of endogenous opioids under stress.

Ethanol enhances Nicotine's effects on DRL performance in rats.

The present experiment examined effects of nicotine (0.0, 0.3, 0.56, and 1.0 mg/kg; IP) and ethanol (0.0, 0.5, 1.5, and 3.0 g/kg; IG) on operant behavior using a differential reinforcement of low response rate (DRL) schedule in rats. DRL schedules are sensitive to effects of nicotine and provide an assessment of the subject's ability to accurately estimate time and to inhibit schedule-controlled responding. When administered alone, nicotine shifted the mode of the interresponse time distribution to the left and reduced the percentage of reinforced responses. Nicotine also had an inverted U-shaped dose effect on the number of "bursting" responses. When administered after pretreatment with ethanol, nicotine's effects on the distribution of interresponse times and bursting were potentiated. These effects are consistent with previous reports and with the suggestion that ethanol pretreatment can potentiate effects of subsequently administered nicotine. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.

Effects of acute nicotine on several operant behaviors in rats.

The present experiment assessed nicotine's effects on complex cognitive processes using a variety of operant tasks in rats, including incremental repeated acquisition (IRA) to assess learning; conditioned position responding (CPR) to assess auditory, visual, and position discrimination; progressive ratio (PR) to assess motivation; temporal response differentiation (TRD) to assess timing; and differential reinforcement of low response rates (DRL) to assess timing and response inhibition. Acute nicotine administration (0.0, 0.3, 0.42, 0.56, 0.75, and 1.0 mg/kg, IP) increased IRA and CPR response rate without significantly altering accuracy. Nicotine had similar effects on response rate for PR. For TRD, nicotine had a U-shaped dose effect on accuracy, but failed to shift the mode of the TRD response distribution. For DRL, nicotine reduced accuracy and also shifted the mode of the DRL response initiation time distribution to the left. Nicotine produced an inverted U-shaped dose-effect curve for the overall number of "bursting" responses under both of these schedules. The results of this experiment suggest that nicotine can impair performance on some aspects of cognitive-behavioral performance, while simultaneously improving performance on others.

Prenatal exposure to nicotine: effects on prepulse inhibition and central nicotinic receptors.

The present experiment examined effects of prenatal nicotine exposure (6 mg/kg/day via osmotic minipump) throughout gestation on prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response (PPI) and on the density of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAchRs) in the brains of 5-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. A total of 117 male and 103 female offspring were used. Prenatal nicotine reduced subsequent percent PPI to a 98 dB stimulus in female but not in male offspring. There was an inverse correlation between the percent of PPI and nAchR density in the cortex of male rats and the striatum of female rats.

Comparison of drug effects on the performance of two timing tasks in rats.

Previous evidence suggests that different timing tasks are differentially sensitive to pharmacological manipulation, especially when different values for the temporal parameters are used. The present series of experiments compared the effects of physostigmine, caffeine, pentobarbital, morphine, and naloxone on the performance of a differential reinforcement of low rates with limited hold (DRL-LH) and a temporal response differentiation (TRD) task. In the DRL-LH task, rats were reinforced for responses that occurred 10-14 s from the end of the previous response. In the TRD task, rats were reinforced for responses with a duration of 10-14 s. The peak response time and peak spread of the initiation time distribution (for DRL-LH) or the response duration distribution (for TRD) were used as indices of temporal discrimination. Physostigmine, caffeine, and pentobarbital produced very similar effects on peak response time for both tasks, but the effects of morphine and naloxone were different for the two tasks. Effects on peak spread for the two tasks did not always correspond to changes in peak response time, suggesting that different processes may be measured by these two endpoints. Further, these effects were independent of changes in response rate suggesting that the effects were not due to gross disruptions in motivation or motor control. These results suggest that the effects of drugs on DRL-LH and TRD performance may differ, even when temporal parameters are identical.

Hyperactivity induced by prenatal nicotine exposure is associated with an increase in cortical nicotinic receptors.

Prenatal exposure to nicotine may lead to hyperactivity. To evaluate possible involvement of central nicotinic receptors in this condition, pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with osmotic minipumps to receive nicotine (6 mg/kg/day) or saline throughout gestation. A total of 222 pups (118 males and 104 females) from 24 dams were measured for locomotor activity. Male and female hyperactive and nonhyperactive offspring from each treatment group were selected and analyzed for nicotinic receptor concentrations in various brain regions. Hyperactive male offspring that were prenatally exposed to nicotine exhibited a significant increase in the cortical receptor densities without a change in binding affinity. Hyperactive offspring of saline-treated dams did not show an increase in cortical nicotinic receptors. These results suggest that hyperactive male offspring of nicotine-exposed dams are also susceptible to neurochemical effects of intrauterine nicotine exposure.

Effects of ddC and AZT on locomotion and acoustic startle. I: Acute effects in female rats.

Several synthetic nucleoside analogues, including AZT(RETROVIR), ddC (HIVID), ddI (VIDEX), and d4T (ZERIT), are currently being used in the treatment of HIV infection. Unfortunately, in clinical use the appearance of severe and sometimes debilitating peripheral neuropathy and pain has been associated with the long-term use of several of these drugs (i.e., ddC, ddI and d4T), although not with AZT. To date, standard pre-clinical animal toxicity studies have failed to reveal any adverse neurologic effects of these compounds. However, previously reported preliminary findings suggest that ddC may alter several neuro-behavioral parameters (including locomotor activity, acoustic startle responding, and aggression) in rats and mice following presentation in the animals' drinking water for 7 days. The current series of experiments examined effects of acutely administered ddC and AZT on spontaneous locomotor activity and acoustic startle responses (with and without pre-pulse) in female Sprague-Dawley rats. Following intragastric administration, ddC reduced locomotion at all but the highest dose, whereas AZT had no significant effect on locomotor activity. Acutely administered ddC had no effect on ASR, whereas AZT increased ASR at the highest stimulus intensity. These data support the use of behavioral testing in the development of the antiviral nucleoside analogues, as behavioral testing may be more effective in identifying the neurologically active agents than is standard toxicity testing.

Adaptation of a primate operant test battery to the rat: effects of chlorpromazine.

The National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) Operant Test Battery (OTB) has been used extensively in rhesus monkeys to characterize the effects of drugs and toxicants on the performance of tasks designed to model several cognitive functions. Recently, the majority of the OTB tasks have been adapted for use in rats. The current study is the first to examine the effects of a prototypic pharmacological agent previously assessed in monkeys on rat OTB performance. The effects of the dopamine antagonist chlorpromazine (0.56-5.6 mg/kg, i.p.) were assessed in rats performing tasks designed to model auditory-visual-position discrimination, learning, time estimation, and appetitive motivation. All four tasks were equally sensitive to the behavioral effects of chlorpromazine. This pattern of sensitivity was very similar to that obtained when chlorpromazine was tested in monkeys performing the OTB. These data thus suggest that operant tasks designed to model cognitive functions in monkeys can also be used in rats, and that the effects of chlorpromazine on the performance of these tasks may be predictive of results obtained with monkeys. Further characterization of the rat OTB using prototypic pharmacological agents will further determine the extent to which drug effects on rat OTB performance can be generalized to primates.

Differential effects of two NMDA receptor antagonists on cognitive-behavioral development in nonhuman primates I.

The present experiment examined effects of chronic exposure to remacemide (an N-methyl-D-aspartate [NMDA] antagonist which also blocks fast sodium channels) or MK-801 (which blocks NMDA receptors, exclusively) on learning and motivation in young rhesus monkeys. Remacemide (20 or 50 mg/kg/day) or MK-801 (0.1 or 1.0 mg/kg/day) was administered every day to separate groups of animals via orogastric gavage for up to 2 years. Immediately prior to dosing, 5 days per week (M--F), throughout the 2-year dosing period, an incremental repeated acquisition (IRA) task was used to assess learning and a progressive ratio (PR) task was used to assess motivation. The results indicate an effect of 50 mg/kg/day remacemide to impair learning (IRA) which persisted even after drug treatment was discontinued. MK-801 had no effect on learning but transiently increased motivation. Because the effects of remacemide occurred independently of changes in motivation or response rates, they are likely due to specific cognitive impairments and are not due to an inability of subjects to fulfill the motoric requirements of the task. The fact that MK-801 did not alter learning suggests that NMDA antagonism alone may be insufficient to produce learning deficits in young monkeys and that such deficits may rely on the ancillary blockade of fast sodium channels.

Differential effects of two NMDA receptor antagonists on cognitive--behavioral performance in young nonhuman primates II.

The present experiment examined the effects of chronic exposure to remacemide (an NMDA antagonist that also blocks fast sodium channels) or MK-801 (which blocks NMDA receptors more selectively) on the acquisition of color and position discrimination and short-term memory behavior in juvenile rhesus monkeys. Throughout the 2-year dosing period, a conditioned position responding (CPR) task was used to assess color and position discrimination and a delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) task was used to assess memory. Chronic exposure to high doses of either drug delayed the acquisition of accurate color and position discrimination without altering response rates. In the case of MK-801, these effects abated within 6 months of the start of treatment. In the case of remacemide, the effects persisted for 17 months of dosing. Neither compound significantly altered performance of the short-term memory task at any time point or at any dose tested. The fact that the effects of remacemide on behavioral performance were more persistent than those seen for MK-801 suggests that tolerance may develop to the behavioral effects of MK-801, which does not develop to the effects of remacemide. Alternatively, these results may suggest that the concurrent antagonism of NMDA receptors and fast sodium channels may have more profound consequences for behavior than does the antagonism of NMDA receptors alone.

The use of timing behaviors in animals and humans to detect drug and/or toxicant effects.

Behavioral paradigms applicable for use in both human and nonhuman subjects for investigating aspects of timing behavior are presented with a view towards exploring their strengths, weaknesses, and utility in a variety of experimental situations. Tri-peak, peak interval, differential reinforcement of low rate responding, and temporal response differentiation procedures are highlighted. In addition, the application of timing tasks in preclinical and clinical settings is discussed: pharmacological manipulations are providing information on the neurotransmitters involved and species differences; normative data for children are being developed; and noninvasive imaging procedures are being employed in adult human subjects to explore the involvement of specific brain areas.

Assessing the potential toxicity of MK-801 and remacemide: chronic exposure in juvenile rhesus monkeys.

The present experiment examined the effects of chronic exposure to either 0.1 or 1.0 mg/kg MK-801 [a selective N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist] or 20.0 or 50.0 mg/kg remacemide (an NMDA receptor antagonist which also blocks fast sodium channels) in juvenile rhesus monkeys. Endpoints were monitored to provide a general index of subjects' health and included measures of clinical chemistry, hematology, ophthalmology, spontaneous home-cage behavior, and peak drug plasma levels. In general, both drugs were well tolerated and produced no treatment-related effects during 2 years of dosing and assessment. Periodic plasma drug level determinations provided limited evidence that both compounds may induce their own metabolism. The present results contrast sharply with previously reported effects of long-lasting impairments in the acquisition of incremental learning and in the development of color and position discrimination in these same subjects. These observations highlight the importance of collecting a broad range of toxicology data, including tests of cognitive function, to make comprehensive assessments of new drug safety. In the present case, the less obvious effects of these drugs on cognition defined the toxicologic response.

Effects of acute ethanol on indices of cognitive-behavioral performance in rats.

The present experiment examined the effects of ethanol on several complex operant behaviors in rats. Tasks included: temporal response differentiation (TRD) to assess timing behavior; differential reinforcement of low response rates (DRL) to assess timing and response inhibition; incremental repeated acquisition (IRA) to assess learning; conditioned position responding (CPR) to assess auditory, visual, and position discrimination; and progressive ratio (PR) to assess motivation. Ethanol (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0 g/kg via orogastric gavage) reduced accuracy and/or percent task completed for the TRD, DRL, and CPR tasks. For CPR, this reduction was accompanied by a reduction in response rates. Ethanol also reduced response rates on the PR task. There were no effects of ethanol on IRA performance. These data suggest that ethanol can selectively impair performance on cognitive-behavioral tasks and that these effects can occur at doses that do not affect the subjects' ability to respond.

Sex differences in effects of predictable and unpredictable footshock on fentanyl self-administration in rats.

An operant conditioning paradigm was used to examine effects of predictable and unpredictable footshock on oral fentanyl (50 micrograms/ml self-administration (SA) in 12 female and 12 male Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus). Rats were tested for drug SA under a progressive ratio schedule with and without repeated predictable or unpredictable footshock over 8 weeks. Female rats consumed greater amounts of fentanyl than did male rats. Male rats exhibited greater withdrawal behaviors following naloxone challenge. Predictable footshock with repeated exposure (i.e., chronic stress) was accompanied by greater fentanyl SA than was unpredictable footshock, particularly for female rats. Corticosterone levels were positively correlated with fentanyl SA. Predictability of the stressor also had a greater effect on maintenance of fentanyl SA than it did on relapse to fentanyl SA. Results suggest that sex plays an important role in drug-taking behavior by rats.