McBride SM, Culver B, Flynn FW. Dietary sodium manipulation during critical periods in development sensitize adult offspring to amphetamines. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 295: R899 -R905, 2008. First published July 9, 2008 doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00186.2008This study examined critical periods in development to determine when offspring were most susceptible to dietary sodium manipulation leading to amphetamine sensitization. Wistar dams (n ϭ 6 -8/group) were fed chow containing low (0.12% NaCl; LN), normal (1% NaCl; NN), or high sodium (4% NaCl; HN) during the prenatal or early postnatal period (birth to 5 wk). Offspring were fed normal chow thereafter until testing at 6 mo. Body weight (BW), blood pressure (BP), fluid intake, salt preference, response to amphetamine, open field behavior, plasma adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH), plasma corticosterone (Cort), and adrenal gland weight were measured. BW was similar for all offspring. Offspring from the prenatal and postnatal HN group had increased BP, NaCl intake, and salt preference and decreased water intake relative to NN offspring. Prenatal HN offspring had greater BP than postnatal HN offspring. In response to amphetamine, both prenatal and postnatal LN and HN offspring had increased locomotor behavior compared with NN offspring. In a novel open field environment, locomotion was also increased in prenatal and postnatal LN and HN offspring compared with NN offspring. ACTH and Cort levels 30 min after restraint stress and adrenal gland weight measurement were greater in LN and HN offspring compared with NN offspring. These results indicate that early life experience with low-and high-sodium diets, during the prenatal or early postnatal period, is a stress that produces long-term changes in responsiveness to amphetamines and to subsequent stressors. behavioral sensitization; psychomotor stimulant; salt appetite DRUGS OF ABUSE and natural motivators or stimuli, such as sodium deprivation or stress, activate similar neural circuits involved in mediating reward and drive-related responses (12,18,28). One of the main systems believed to be involved in triggering these behaviors is the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system, with dopaminergic projections traveling from the midbrain ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens and other limbic and cortical areas (38, 44). With repeated exposure to both amphetamines and sodium deprivation, behavioral sensitization develops (38, 48). Sensitization can be described as an increased and enduring response to the same stimuli with repeated exposures (38). With amphetamines, sensitization manifests itself as increased locomotor behavior (21, 53). Repeated amphetamine treatment leading to sensitization is associated with morphological changes in nucleus accumbens neurons, including increased spine density, dendritic length, and dendritic branching (46). Repeated sodium deprivation can lead to an enduring daily increase in the ingestion of hypertonic NaCl in otherwise sodium-replete rats (48), and a history of sodium deple...