TY - JOUR
T1 - Intravenous gestational nicotine exposure results in increased motivation for sucrose reward in adult rat offspring
AU - Lacy, Ryan T.
AU - Hord, Lauren L.
AU - Morgan, Amanda J.
AU - Harrod, Steven B.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse , DA021287 , and the University of South Carolina Research Productivity Scholar grant, KA-21 . Neither the National Institute on Drug Abuse nor the University of South Carolina had a further role in the preparation of the experimental procedures, the writing or the submission of the manuscript.
PY - 2012/8/1
Y1 - 2012/8/1
N2 - Background: Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure is associated with alterations in motivated behavior in offspring, such as increased consumption of highly palatable foods and abused drugs. Animal models show that gestational nicotine (GN) exposure mediates changes in responding for sucrose and drug reward. Methods: A novel, intermittent low-dose intravenous (IV) exposure model was used to administer nicotine (0.05. mg/kg/injection) or saline 3 ×. /day to rats on gestational days 8-21. Two experiments investigated the effect of IV GN on (1) the habituation of spontaneous locomotor activity and on (2) sucrose reinforced responding in offspring. For the operant experiments, animals acquired fixed-ratio (FR-3) responding for sucrose, 26% (w/v), and were tested on varying concentrations (0, 3, 10, 30, and 56%; Latin-square) according to a FR-3, and then a progressive-ratio (PR) schedule. Male and female adult offspring were used. Results: IV GN did not alter birth or growth weight, or the number of pups born. No between-group differences in habituation to spontaneous locomotor activity were observed. FR testing produced an inverted U-shaped response curve, and rats showed peak responding for 10% sucrose reinforcement. Neither gestation nor sex affected responding, suggesting equivalent sensitivity to varying sucrose concentrations. PR testing revealed that GN rats showed greater motivation for sucrose reinforcement relative to controls. Conclusions: A low-dose, IV GN exposure model resulted in increased motivation to respond for sucrose reinforcement in adult offspring. This suggests that using a low number of cigarettes throughout pregnancy will result in increased motivation for highly palatable foods in adult, and perhaps, adolescent offspring.
AB - Background: Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure is associated with alterations in motivated behavior in offspring, such as increased consumption of highly palatable foods and abused drugs. Animal models show that gestational nicotine (GN) exposure mediates changes in responding for sucrose and drug reward. Methods: A novel, intermittent low-dose intravenous (IV) exposure model was used to administer nicotine (0.05. mg/kg/injection) or saline 3 ×. /day to rats on gestational days 8-21. Two experiments investigated the effect of IV GN on (1) the habituation of spontaneous locomotor activity and on (2) sucrose reinforced responding in offspring. For the operant experiments, animals acquired fixed-ratio (FR-3) responding for sucrose, 26% (w/v), and were tested on varying concentrations (0, 3, 10, 30, and 56%; Latin-square) according to a FR-3, and then a progressive-ratio (PR) schedule. Male and female adult offspring were used. Results: IV GN did not alter birth or growth weight, or the number of pups born. No between-group differences in habituation to spontaneous locomotor activity were observed. FR testing produced an inverted U-shaped response curve, and rats showed peak responding for 10% sucrose reinforcement. Neither gestation nor sex affected responding, suggesting equivalent sensitivity to varying sucrose concentrations. PR testing revealed that GN rats showed greater motivation for sucrose reinforcement relative to controls. Conclusions: A low-dose, IV GN exposure model resulted in increased motivation to respond for sucrose reinforcement in adult offspring. This suggests that using a low number of cigarettes throughout pregnancy will result in increased motivation for highly palatable foods in adult, and perhaps, adolescent offspring.
KW - Gestational nicotine
KW - Locomotor activity
KW - Rats
KW - Sex
KW - Sucrose-maintained responding
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863999778&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84863999778&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.01.025
DO - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.01.025
M3 - Article
C2 - 22377090
AN - SCOPUS:84863999778
SN - 0376-8716
VL - 124
SP - 299
EP - 306
JO - Drug and Alcohol Dependence
JF - Drug and Alcohol Dependence
IS - 3
ER -