Behavioral Toxicologic Assessment of the Neurologic Effect of Lead in Sheep

Abstract

The behavioral toxlcologst uses the techmques of ammal behavior to study the selectlve tomcity of neuropolsons [ 11. Ruffin [ 2 ) proposed the use of functional testrng in experimental ennronmentll torfcology r e l a h g to industrial health. Van Gelder [ 31 recently discussed the role of behavioral toxlcology m eluadating possible adverse health effects of environmental contammuis.Lead 19 a neurotoscant that 1s presently adversely affecting the health of humans and e s p e w d y children. As more c o m m m t l e s have become aware of the lead problem, rt has become apparent that lead toxicosls is not a problem limited to Lnner city areas [ 41.The epidemology of childhood leadpoisoning has been the subject of several r e n e w articles d w g the past years [ 5-91. That children in the 1to 5-year-old age group are prim;lrily involved ha3 been well estzblished The d source of lead 18 the consumption Protection Agency. tResearch funded by contract CPA 22-89-10?, Er.'ironmental405 CapyngIlht Q 1973 by M u c d Dr(dur. loc. All Righa R d . N e t l h s this work nor my pur n u y b. mpmduccd a ormmincd in any form or by any mum. e k a m r c or mech.nlul. tncludiq pkococopyin:. micmtilmin:. and mardin:. 01 by any inlonruuon n m g e and meal v8m. without pumrruon in wncing from the publisher. Clinical Toxicology Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by UB Wuerzburg on 11/01/14 For personal use only. Clinical Toxicology Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by UB Wuerzburg on 11/01/14 For personal use only. B. E. M e r , c. -k% J 'y -e r , J. Compar.%thoL, 60, 140 (1950). F. E. Rieke, Arch. Envzron. Health,79, 521 (1969). H. A. Scheffe, lometnice, 40, 87 ( 1953). ;md w. B. . Anal. Behavior, 15, 95 (1971). Buck, Clinical Toxicology Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by UB Wuerzburg on 11/01/14For personal use only.

Operant analysis of chronic locoweed intoxication in sheep.

“…Our sheep sometimes responded in this way, but at times even control subjects would respond excessively during the interval (Figure 7). Van Gelder et al (1973) used two operant procedures to examine lead intoxication in sheep, and they found that an FI schedule was not sensitive to the toxic insult.…”

Development of Behavioral Tests for the Assessment of Neurologic Effects of Lead in Sheep

“…Our use of an auditory signal detection task which required sheep to depress a pedal within 5 sec after a 0.1-sec duration of 5 kHz tone to assess the neurologic effects of lead has been reported (11). Adult sheep given oral lead at 100 mg/kg-day for 9 weeks performed significantly poorer on the auditory signal detection task for a food reinforcement, but this effect was associated with the anorexia of acute toxicosis.…”

Auditory and visual discrimination learning in sheep prenatally and postnatally exposed to lead

“…Performance after 4 weeks of exposure was significantly less stable in the exposed sheep than in the controls. Van Gelder et al (1973) also reported that daily oral doses of 120 and 230 mg lead for 27 weeks did not alter the performance of mature sheep on a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement behavioral task.…”

“…Weir and Hine (1970) reported that goldfish exposed to sublethal lead concentrations of 10 ppm or less in their aquatic environment for 24 and 48 hr showed impaired performance on a conditioned avoidance task. Van Gelder et al (1973) reported increasingly poor performance on an auditory signal detection behavioral task by mature sheep receiving daily oral doses of 100 mg lead/kg. The fewer number of correct responses by the lead exposed sheep was believed to be a manifestation of clinical lead tox icosis.…”