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Ontogeny of PFC-related behaviours is sensitive to a single non-invasive dose of methamphetamine in neonatal gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus)

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Summary

A single dose of methamphetamine (50mg/kg; i.p.) was administered to neonatal male gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) aged 14 days, and adult prefrontal cortex (PFC)-related behaviours were analysed and compared with saline-treated controls at the age of postnatal day 90. For that purpose, animals were tested for open-field activities and y-maze delayed alternation. This solitary and non-invasive drug challenge, which has recently been found to initiate serious restraint in maturation of the mesoprefrontal dopamine (DA)-system (Dawirs et al., 1994), induces a significant delayed alternation impairment as well as significant increases in open-field motor activity and emotionality. Since an undisturbed development of the prefrontal DA-innervation seems to be a precondition for the maturation of normal PFC-related behaviours, a single early methamphetamine impact may be a suitable animal model for further investigation of structural and functional aspects of non-invasively induced behavioural deficits in rodents. The present results are discussed with regard to the assumption that hypofunctional mesoprefrontal DA-systems might be basic to schizophrenic behaviours in man.

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  1. R. R. Dawirs

    Present address: Department of Neuroanatomy, Faculty of Biology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

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  1. Department of Neuroanatomy, Faculty of Biology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    G. Teuchert-Noodt & R. Czaniera

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Dawirs, R.R., Teuchert-Noodt, G. & Czaniera, R. Ontogeny of PFC-related behaviours is sensitive to a single non-invasive dose of methamphetamine in neonatal gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus). J. Neural Transmission 103, 1235–1245 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01271184

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