Effects of acute ethanol or amphetamine administration on the acoustic startle response and prepulse inhibition in adolescent and adult rats

Brunell, Steven C.; Spear, Linda P.

doi:10.1007/s00213-006-0380-9

Cited by 34 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, younger animals have been shown to develop less sensitization than adult animals following repeated exposure to stimulants such as cocaine [14], [29], amphetamine [28], and methylphenidate [9,10]. Similar results have been observed for alcohol [12], [39]. While the effects of toluene have been investigated in younger animals, the majority of these studies have focused on gestational exposure followed by later assessment of toluene's effects in pre-weanling and older animals [see review [6]].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…Similar to ethanol, toluene interacts with GABA A receptors [1,2], suggesting that this mechanism may also contribute to the age differences observed in the present study. In addition, younger animals have been shown to develop less locomotor sensitization than adult animals following repeated exposure to other drugs of abuse such as alcohol [12], [39], cocaine [14], [29], amphetamine [28], and methylphenidate [9,10]. Together, these results suggest that initial sensitivity to the acute locomotor effects of toluene (and perhaps those of other inhalants) follows a developmental time-course in which sensitivity increases as rats leave adolescence and enter adulthood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Decreased sensitivity in adolescent vs. adult rats to the locomotor activating effects of toluene

Bowen¹,

Charlesworth²,

Tokarz³

et al. 2007

Neurotoxicology and Teratology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Volatile organic solvent (inhalant) abuse continues to be a major health concern throughout the world. Of particular concern is the abuse of inhalants by adolescents because of its toxicity and link to illicit drug use. Toluene, which is found in many products such as glues and household cleaners, is among the most commonly abused organic solvents. While studies have assessed outcomes of exposure to inhalants in adult male animals, there is little research on the neurobehavioral effects of inhalants in female or younger animals. In attempt to address these shortcomings, we exposed male and female Long-Evans rats to 20 min of 0, 2,000, 4,000, or 8,000 parts per million (ppm) inhaled toluene for 10 days in rats aged postnatal (PN) day 28-39 (adolescent), PN44-PN55, or >PN70 (adult). Animals were observed individually in 29-l transparent glass cylindrical jars equipped with standard photocells that were used to measure locomotor activity. Toluene significantly increased activity as compared to air exposure in all groups of male and female rats with the magnitude of locomotor stimulation produced by 4000 ppm toluene being significantly greater for female adults than during any age of adolescence. The results demonstrate that exposure to abuse patterns of high concentrations of toluene through inhalation can alter spontaneous locomotor behavior in rats and that the expression of these effects appears to depend upon the postnatal age of testing and sex of the animal.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Decreased sensitivity in adolescent vs. adult rats to the locomotor activating effects of toluene

Bowen¹,

Charlesworth²,

Tokarz³

et al. 2007

Neurotoxicology and Teratology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This negative finding is of special interest because the dopaminergic system has been implicated in the mode of action of modafinil and the dopaminergic system is known to play a key role in mediating PPI (Swerdlow et al, 1992;Koch and Schnitzler, 1997;Koch, 1999;Zhang et al, 2000). Indeed, it has been shown that amphetamine, a wakefulness-promoting drug acting via dopaminergic mechanisms (Bunney et al, 1973a, b;Calcagnetti and Schechter, 1992;Nishino et al, 1998;Paladini et al, 2001), disrupts PPI of the startle response in both rat (Mansbach et al, 1988;Swerdlow et al, 1990;Sills, 1999;Zhang et al, 2000;Swerdlow et al, 2003;Brunell and Spear, 2006) and human (Kumari et al, 1998;Hutchison and Swift, 1999;Swerdlow et al, 2003) startle paradigms. Although both modafinil and amphetamine promote wakefulness, modafinil does not seem to share the psychostimulant and addictive potentials of amphetamine (Simon et al, 1995;Ferraro et al, 1997;Engber et al, 1998a, b;Jasinski, 2000;Deroche-Gamonet et al, 2002;Chapotot et al, 2003), which are known to be mediated via the mesoaccumbal dopaminergic system (Di Ciano et al, 1995;Zhang et al, 2000;Di Chiara et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modulation of the Acoustic Startle Response by the Level of Arousal: Comparison of Clonidine and Modafinil in Healthy Volunteers

Samuels

Hou

Langley

et al. 2007

Neuropsychopharmacol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A sudden loud sound evokes an electromyographic (EMG) response from the orbicularis oculi muscle in humans together with an auditory evoked potential (AEP) and an increase in skin conductance (SC). Startle responses are inhibited by weak prepulses (prepulse inhibition, (PPI)) and may also be modified by the level of alertness. We compared the sedative drug clonidine and the alerting drug modafinil on sound-evoked EMG, AEP, and SC responses, on the PPI of these responses and on level of arousal and autonomic functions. Sixteen healthy male volunteers participated in four weekly sessions (clonidine 0.2 mg, modafinil 400 mg, their combination, placebo) in a double-blind, cross-over, balanced design. Responses were evoked by sound pulses of 115 and 85 dB (PPI) for 40 ms and recorded conventionally. Level of alertness, autonomic functions (pupil diameter, blood pressure, heart rate, salivation, temperature) and the plasma levels of the hormones prolactin, thyroid-stimulating hormone and growth hormone were also measured. Data were analyzed with analysis of variance with multiple comparisons. Both prepulses and clonidine attenuated all three startle responses and modafinil antagonized clonidine's effects on the EMG and AEP responses. None of the drugs affected PPI. Clonidine showed sedative and sympatholytic effects, and modafinil showed alerting and sympathomimetic effects. In conclusion, startle responses were susceptible not only to PPI but also to the level of arousal. Keywords: acoustic startle response; auditory evoked potential; skin conductance; prepulse inhibition; clonidine; modafinil INTRODUCTIONThe startle response involves rapid involuntary contractions of facial and skeletal musculature in response to a sudden intense stimulus. In the case of the acoustic startle response, this reaction occurs in response to a sudden loud sound and is measurable in humans as an electromyographic (EMG) response from the orbicularis oculi muscle (eyeblink startle response). This response is believed to be mediated via a pathway below the level of the diencephalon consisting of between three and five central synapses, originating from the sensory receptors and terminating on the motor neurons, where the principal relay is the caudal pontine reticular nucleus (Davis et al, 1982; for review, see Yeomans and Frankland, 1996;Koch, 1999). In addition to this muscular response, changes in electroencephalographic (EEG) activity can be observed in response to the auditory stimulus, and these changes are termed auditory evoked potentials (AEP). In particular, the N1/P2 component of the AEP is measurable following the presentation of the acoustic startle stimulus (for examples, see Abduljawad et al, 1999Abduljawad et al, , 2001 Phillips et al, 2000a, b;Graham et al, 2001Graham et al, , 2004Scaife et al, 2005Scaife et al, , 2006. Both the muscular and the AEP responses are fast responses; longer-latency responding to the startle stimulus can be observed in autonomic activity, in particular in sympathetically mediated skin conductance...

show abstract

“…For example, studies from Brunell and Spear (2006) indicate that adolescents exhibit bimodal behavioral responses to alcohol, with both hypo-and hyperresponsive systems (Doremus et al, 2003;Long et al, 1992;Varlinskaya and Spear, 2002). These findings have important implications for the risks associated with recreational drinking in adolescents and young adults.…”

Section: Alcoholmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental Consequences of Fetal Exposure to Drugs: What We Know and What We Still Must Learn

Ross

Graham

Money

et al. 2014

Neuropsychopharmacol

341

241

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Most drugs of abuse easily cross the placenta and can affect fetal brain development. In utero exposures to drugs thus can have long-lasting implications for brain structure and function. These effects on the developing nervous system, before homeostatic regulatory mechanisms are properly calibrated, often differ from their effects on mature systems. In this review, we describe current knowledge on how alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamine, Ecstasy, and opiates (among other drugs) produce alterations in neurodevelopmental trajectory. We focus both on animal models and available clinical and imaging data from cross-sectional and longitudinal human studies. Early studies of fetal exposures focused on classic teratological methods that are insufficient for revealing more subtle effects that are nevertheless very behaviorally relevant. Modern mechanistic approaches have informed us greatly as to how to potentially ameliorate the induced deficits in brain formation and function, but conclude that better delineation of sensitive periods, dose-response relationships, and long-term longitudinal studies assessing future risk of offspring to exhibit learning disabilities, mental health disorders, and limited neural adaptations are crucial to limit the societal impact of these exposures.

show abstract

Effects of acute ethanol or amphetamine administration on the acoustic startle response and prepulse inhibition in adolescent and adult rats

Abstract: These data provide further evidence of the relative insensitivity of adolescent animals to amphetamine, although no age effects were found in terms of ethanol sensitivity using these measures of startle and sensorimotor gating.

Cited by 34 publications

References 58 publications

Decreased sensitivity in adolescent vs. adult rats to the locomotor activating effects of toluene

Decreased sensitivity in adolescent vs. adult rats to the locomotor activating effects of toluene

Modulation of the Acoustic Startle Response by the Level of Arousal: Comparison of Clonidine and Modafinil in Healthy Volunteers

Developmental Consequences of Fetal Exposure to Drugs: What We Know and What We Still Must Learn

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About