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

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Abstract

Rationale

Adolescents differ from adults in their sensitivity to a variety of psychoactive drugs. For example, adolescent rats are less sensitive to locomotor stimulant and stereotypic effects of amphetamine as well as to motor-impairing and hypnotic effects of ethanol while more sensitive to ethanol-induced disruption of brain plasticity.

Objective

The current study further explored age differences in psychopharmacological sensitivity by examining the effects of d-amphetamine (1.0 and 4.0 mg/kg) or ethanol (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 g/kg) given interperitoneally on the acoustic startle response (ASR) and prepulse inhibition (PPI) in male adolescent and adult Sprague–Dawley rats.

Materials and methods

The animals were given five startle trials (120 dB for 40 ms) before semi-randomized presentation of 12 startle trials interspersed with ten trials at each prepulse intensity (40 ms pulse of 5, 10, or 20 dB above background; 100 ms before the startle stimulus).

Results

Adolescent controls showed significantly less PPI than adults, replicating previous ontogenetic findings. The higher dose of amphetamine disrupted PPI in adult but not in adolescent animals, extending previous reports of an adolescent insensitivity to amphetamine to include this measure of sensorimotor gating. Ethanol exposure failed to alter PPI at either age, although both the 1.0 and 1.5 g/kg doses of ethanol significantly suppressed the magnitude of the ASR at both ages, potentially reflecting sedative or anxiolytic effects.

Conclusion

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.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants R37 AA12525 and R01 DA019071.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Developmental Psychobiology, Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, 13902-6000, USA

    Steven Craig Brunell & Linda Patia Spear

  2. Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY, 13902-6000, USA

    Linda Patia Spear

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  1. Steven Craig Brunell
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Correspondence to Linda Patia Spear.

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Brunell, S.C., Spear, L.P. Effects of acute ethanol or amphetamine administration on the acoustic startle response and prepulse inhibition in adolescent and adult rats. Psychopharmacology 186, 579–586 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0380-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0380-9

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