Long-lasting microencephaly following exposure to cocaine during the brain growth spurt in the rat

Amphetamine treatment during early postnatal development transiently restricts somatic growth

AIMS

Restricted somatic growth during fetal or early postnatal periods has been suggested to serve as a predictive indicator for neuroanatomical changes and behavioral impairments during adulthood. Here, the effects of d-amphetamine sulfate (AMPH) exposure during the brain growth spurt period on this potential indicator were evaluated.

MAIN METHODS

Rats received 0, 5, 15 or 25mg/kg/day of AMPH via two daily intragastric intubations from PD4-9. Body weight data were collected every other day from PD1 to 21, and then weekly until PD59. On PD9, a subset of animals was terminated 90min after the last amphetamine treatment and the weights of the cortex, cerebellum, and brainstem were collected. Weights of these brain regions from young adult rats were also assessed on PD68.

KEY FINDINGS

AMPH exposure during early postnatal development limited somatic growth in a dose-related manner, with significantly lower body weights in animals assigned to the AMPH 25 and AMPH 15 groups. However, this was transient in nature, with no significant difference in weight observed after pups were weaned on PD21. Further, no differences in brain weight were observed at either age as a result of AMPH exposure.

SIGNIFICANCE

These findings support the idea that developmental AMPH exposure transiently restricts somatic growth. Moreover, the lack of effect on brain weight shows that AMPH differentially affects somatic and brain growth. The current findings suggest that in addition to the immediate effects on body weight, amphetamine may alter the rate of growth, and increase the risk for weight-related adult diseases.

Rats exposed to cocaine during late gestation and early postnatal life show deficits in hippocampal pyramidal and granule cells in later life

In humans, the offspring of maternal cocaine misusers are known to have subtle cognitive and motor impairments in later life. It was therefore hypothesized that such exposure in animals would also affect the morphological structure of the brain. This possibility was investigated by exposing rats to cocaine between embryonic day 15 and postnatal day 6. Samples of the cocaine-exposed and control rats were killed for examination at 22 and 150 postnatal days of age. Stereological procedures (the Cavalieri principle together with the physical disector method) were utilized to estimate the total number of pyramidal and granule cells in defined regions of the hippocampal formation. At 22 days of age, the control offspring had about 373 000 pyramidal cells whereas the cocaine-treated animals only had about 310,000 cells in the CA1 + CA2 + CA3 region. By 150 days of age the values were about 396,000 and 348,000, respectively. The differences between age-matched groups were statistically significant. There were about 626,000 and 687,000 dentate gyrus granule cells in the 22-day-old control and cocaine-treated groups, respectively. By postnatal day 150 the control rats had about 832,000 granule cells whilst the cocaine-treated rats had about 693,000. There was a significant main effect of age as well as group-age interaction in this measure. These results show that even moderate exposure to cocaine during the late gestation and early postnatal period in rats is a potent teratogen and can markedly influence the development of neurons in the hippocampal formation.