48 male and 48 female Holtzman rats, ages 50, 100, and 150 days, were tested in a black or white open field to determine the effect of varying brightness of the field upon ambulation and defecation scores. There were significant negative correlations between all ambulation and defecation scores, except for the 50-day-old animals. Ambulation scores decreased over trials for all animals; defecation scores remained the same. Trials did not interact with age, sex, or brightness on either measure. In both fields females crossed more squares than males at ages 100 and 150 days, but there were no sex differences in ambulation at age 50 days. Most notable was a sex difference as a function of brightness of field; whereas male scores did not differ, females ambulated significantly more and tended to defecate less in the white field. Results are described in terms of the need for standardization of the open field.
Gravid albino rats were injected subcutaneously with 0, 5, or 10 mg/kg body weight of d-amphetamine during Days 5-9 or Days 12-16 of gestation. Offspring were assessed for activity level and passive avoidance learning. Almost all of the drug groups, especially those whose mothers received 5 mg of d'amphetamine early in pregnancy, displayed significantly higher activity than did the controls. Administration of 5 mg of d'amphetamine to mothers early in pregnancy was also detrimental to the learning of a passive avoidance response in their offspring, but large doses, whether given early or late in pregnancy, did not affect this behavior.The effect of early experience upon later behaviors of an organism is a currently highly researched area in the field of psychology; numbers of investigators have published results involving various stressor agents applied to the neonate, infant, and adolescent. It is apparent that a great deal of emphasis has been placed on the importance of events occurring early in life in determining later behavior. However, compared with the extensive literature concerning effects of stressors applied postnatally, there appear to be relatively few studies dealing with the effects on offspring behavior of agents administered prenatally, an area which Thompson, Watson, and Charlesworth (1962) have declared a logical extension of the early environment problem.Of the wealth of medical articles dealing with the teratogenic effects of various agents, the majority restricts their reports to anatomical and physiological defects of offspring. If there are no obvious malformations, the compound is considered to be safe. As Werboff and Gottlieb (1963) have stated, another system is susceptible to teratogenic effects of drugs-the behavior, or functional adaptation, of the offspring to its environment. If the developing fetus can be affected by stressor agents, it is not unreasonable to suppose that these agents might influence the behavioral development and subsequent adjustment of the organism.Research has established that several treatments, when administered prenatally, can produce many behavioral changes in the offspring. Investigators have demonstrated the effects of drugs (Armitage, 1952;Hamilton, 1945 ;Hamilton & Hamed, 1944; Thompson, *This report is based on a dissertation submitted to Temple University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree. The author wishes to express gratitude to Hughbert C.Hamilton for his guidance and support throughQut this work. The author also thanks the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, and particularly Elias W. Packman, for making laboratory facilities so freely available for the conduct of this research. The experimental compound was generously supplied by Smith, Kline, and French Laboratories.t Requests for reprints should be sent to Deborah L. Seliger, who is now at Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey 08102 . Goldenberg, Watson, & Watson, 1963; Werboff, Gottlieb, Dembicki, & Havlena, 1961; Werboff & Kesner, 1963), radiation (...
Trials and errors to learning a passive avoidance response were assessed in 63 albino rats injected subcutaneously with d-amphetamine, in amounts ranging from 0-7 mg/kg body weight. Both measures indicated dose-response effects on responding; animals under either low or high doses of d-amphetamine made significantly less errors and took significantly fewer trials to learn the response than did middle dosage animals. The scores of the lower and higher dosage animals did not differ from the nondrug control group. Results are discussed in terms of amphetamine stereotypy.
The effects of d-amphetamine dosage (0, 1, 3, and 5 mg/kg) and shock intensity (0.2, 0.5, and 0.8 ma) on the learning of a passive avoidance response were assessed in rats. A curvilinear dose-response relationship was found at all shock levels, showing slower learning under moderate doses of d-amphetamine. The lowest shock level produced slower learning, especially in conjunction with the lowest dose of d-amphetamine. Results are discussed in terms of freezing behavior.
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