SUMMARY NR3A is the only NMDA receptor (NMDAR) subunit that down-regulates sharply prior to the onset of sensitive periods for plasticity, yet the functional importance of this transient expression remains largely unknown. To investigate the possibility that removal/replacement of juvenile NR3A-containing NMDARs is involved in experience-driven synapse maturation, we used a reversible transgenic system that allowed persistent NR3A expression in the postnatal forebrain. We found that removal of NR3A is required to develop strong NMDAR currents, full expression of long-term synaptic plasticity, a mature synaptic organization characterized by more synapses and larger postsynaptic densities, and the ability to form long-term memories. Deficits associated with prolonged NR3A were reversible, as late-onset suppression of transgene expression rescued both the synaptic and memory impairments. Our results suggest that NR3A behaves as a molecular brake to prevent the premature strengthening and stabilization of excitatory synapses, and that NR3A removal might thereby initiate critical stages of synapse maturation during early postnatal neural development.

The link between impaired maternal behavior (MB) and cocaine treatment could result from druginduced decreases in maternal reactivity to offspring, prenatal drug exposure (PDE) in offspring that could alter their ability to elicit MB, or the interaction of both, which could subsequently impair MB of the 1st-generation dams. Following chronic or intermittent cocaine or saline treatment during gestation, rat dams rearing natural or cross-fostered litters were compared along with untreated dams for MB. Untreated 1st-generation females with differentially treated rearing dams and PDE were tested for MB with their natural litters. The authors report disruptions in MB in dams and their 1st-generation offspring, attributable to main and interaction effects of maternal treatment, litter PDE, and rearing experience. Pregnant women who use cocaine perpetrate child abuse and neglect more often than women who do not use cocaine during pregnancy (Hawley, Halle, Drasin, & Thomas, 1995; Tyler, Howard, Espinosa, & Doakes, 1997; Wasserman & Leventhal, 1993). Maternal cocaine abuse during pregnancy has also been strongly associated with deficits in maternalinfant bonding (Burns, Chethik, Burns, & Clark, 1991), and mothers with a history of substance abuse often exhibit poor mother-infant interactions (Bauman & Dougherty, 1983;Bays, 1990; Howard, Beck-with, Espinosa, & Tyler, 1995;Johnson & Rosen, 1990). Though studies with human participants are helpful in understanding the connection between cocaine use and maternal neglect, these experiments are correlational. There is a necessary lack of control over many important variables that could confound the results, such as socioeconomic issues, lack of family support, multidrug abuse, and poor general prenatal care (Chasnoff et al., 1998;Koren et al., 1998). Studies that use numerous controls have shown a strong correlation between reported history of child maltreatment and the perpetration of maltreatment and/or neglect in next-generation mothers (Egeland, Jacobvitz, & Papatola, 1987;Hunter, Kilstrom, Kraybill, & Loda, 1978).In order to appropriately investigate and describe the characteristics of cocaine-induced disruption of maternal behavior and potential neglect, as well as possible intergenerational effects of such disruptions, a nonhuman cocaine abuse model offers several advantages. The laboratory rat is a particularly good model for the study of maternal behavior. Their offspring are born blind, unable to thermoregulate, defecate, urinate, or protect themselves from attack (Numan, 1994), thus needing considerable maternal care to survive (Stern, 1997). Behaviorally and neurologically, maternal behavior in the rat has also been relatively well characterized (Numan, 1994;Pedersen, Ascher, Monroe, & Prange, 1982;Pedersen, Caldwell, Walker, Ayers, & Mason, 1994) so that any insult to normal maternal behavior can be easily determined.Maternal separation studies also support a rat intergenerational model of behavior showing that cross-fostering results in behavior of offsp...

Gestational cocaine treatment results in significantly increased maternal aggression towards an intruder by postpartum day six, while acute postpartum treatment dose dependently decreases maternal aggressive (MA) behavior. Both increased and decreased aggression in the cocainetreated dams are correlated with either decreased or increased levels of oxytocin in the amygdala, respectively. The current study was an effort to determine whether the effect of gestational cocaine on maternal aggression is transient or would continue into the postpartum period; whether an intermittent cocaine treatment regimen, which incorporates gestational and postpartum intermittent cocaine treatment, would differ from chronic daily gestational treatment; and finally, whether next generation female offspring of cocaine-treated or control dams would have altered MA behavior and oxytocin system changes attributable to either prenatal drug exposure, rearing condition or both. We now report no increase in maternal aggression following chronic gestational treatment and significantly lower levels of aggression in intermittently treated dams on postpartum day eight, with no significant effects in either group on postpartum day 12. Young adult female offspring of the cocaine-treated and control dams, who reared their own natural litters and were tested on postpartum day eight for maternal aggression, had higher levels of maternal aggression towards an intruder attributable to both prenatal cocaine exposure and rearing condition. Higher aggression in cocaine-reared next generation dams was associated with lower levels of oxytocin in the amygdala. Intergenerational effects of cocaine were apparent with respect to aggression and oxytocin system changes.

Alcohol consumption and smoking during pregnancy is common, despite the known adverse effects of these drugs on fetal development. Though studies on the effects of each drug separately are published, little is known about the effect of concurrent use of alcohol and nicotine in humans or in preclinical models. In this report, we examined the impact of continuous gestational exposure to both ethanol via liquid diet and nicotine via an osmotic minipump on maternal behavior, offspring ethanol intake, and oxytocin levels in a rat model. Dams were tested for the onset of maternal behavior with litters of unexposed surrogate pups and then killed to examine oxytocin levels within specific brain regions. Drug-exposed offspring reared by surrogate dams were tested for ethanol intake at either adolescence or adulthood, and oxytocin levels were measured in relevant brain regions after behavioral tests. Dams exhibited minor deficits in maternal care, which were associated with lower oxytocin levels in both the ventral tegmental and medial preoptic areas compared to control dams. Prenatal exposure altered sex-specific ethanol intake, with differential effects at adolescence and adulthood. Oxytocin system changes were also apparent in the ventral tegmental and medial preoptic regions of drug-exposed adolescent and adult offspring. These results suggest that dam treatment with ethanol and nicotine can somewhat negatively affect the early rearing environment, and that prenatal exposure to both of these drugs results in drinking behavior differing from what would be expected from either drug alone. Oxytocin's possible involvement in the mediation of these effects is highlighted.

Gestational cocaine treatment in rat dams results in decreased oxytocin (OT) levels, up-regulated oxytocin receptor (OTR) binding density and decreased receptor affinity in the whole amygdala, all concomitant with a significant increase in maternal aggression on postpartum day six. Rat dams with no gestational drug treatment that received an infusion of an OT antagonist directly into the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) exhibited similarly high levels of maternal aggression towards intruders. Additionally, studies indicate that decreased OT release from the hypothalamic division of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) is coincident with heightened maternal aggression in rats. Thus, it appears that cocaine-induced alterations in OT system dynamics (levels, receptors, production, and/or release) may mediate heightened maternal aggression following cocaine treatment, but the exact mechanisms through which cocaine impacts the OT system have not yet been determined. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that two likely mechanisms of cocaine's action would be, increased OTR binding specifically in the CeA, and decreased OT mRNA production in the PVN. Autoradiography and in situ hybridization assays were performed on targeted nuclei in brain regions of rat dams on postpartum day six, following gestational treatment twice daily with cocaine (15 mg/kg) or normal saline (1 ml/kg). We now report cocaine-induced reductions in OTR binding density in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), but not the CeA. There was no significant change in OT mRNA production in the PVN following cocaine treatment.