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Effects of a single postnatal methamphetamine administration on NMDA-induced seizures are sex- and prenatal exposure-specific

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Abstract

The aim of our study was to reveal whether acute methamphetamine (MA) administration changes the sensitivity to seizures induced by N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) in prenatally MA-exposed adult rats. Adult rats with respect to sex and female estrous cycle (prenatally MA-exposed, prenatally saline-exposed, and controls) were divided into groups with acute MA (1 mg/kg) or without acute drug administration (saline injection). Intraperitoneal administration of 250 mg/kg of NMDA was used as a seizure model. The present study demonstrated that both prenatal MA and prenatal saline exposure decreased the latency to onset of stereotypy and clonic-tonic seizures. Acute MA administration decreased latency to onset of stereotypic behavior in all groups, while increased latency to onset of clonic-tonic seizures in prenatally saline-exposed rats. The duration of NMDA seizures was longer after acute MA administration relative to animals without acute MA pretreatment in both control groups. In addition, males displayed decreased susceptibility to NMDA-induced seizures relative to females regardless of their estrous cycle. Our study suggests that acute MA exposure changes susceptibility to NMDA-induced seizures in respect of prenatal exposure and sex. However, it seems that the effect of prenatal exposure is not induced by the drug per se but rather by the repeated injection exposure that causes prenatal stress.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grant # IGA 1A8610-5/2005 from Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, by project # CNS 1M0517 and by Research Goal # MSM 0021620816 from Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic to R.Š. The procedures for animal experimentation utilized in this report was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and is in agreement with the Czech Government Requirements under the Policy of Humane Care of Laboratory Animals (No. 246/1992) and with the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic (No. 311/1997).

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  1. Department of Normal, Pathological and Clinical Physiology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Ke Karlovu 4, 120 00 Praha 2, Prague, Czech Republic

    Romana Šlamberová, Barbora Schutová, Iveta Matějovská, Klára Bernášková & Richard Rokyta

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  1. Romana Šlamberová
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  2. Barbora Schutová
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  3. Iveta Matějovská
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  4. Klára Bernášková
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  5. Richard Rokyta
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Correspondence to Romana Šlamberová.

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Šlamberová, R., Schutová, B., Matějovská, I. et al. Effects of a single postnatal methamphetamine administration on NMDA-induced seizures are sex- and prenatal exposure-specific. Naunyn-Schmied Arch Pharmacol 380, 109–114 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-009-0427-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-009-0427-7

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