Interactive effects of prenatal alcohol and cocaine exposures on postnatal mortality, development and behavior in the Long-Evans rat

Church, Michael W.; Holmes, Pamela A.; Overbeck, George W.; Tilak, Jacqueline; Zajac, Carol S.

doi:10.1016/0892-0362(91)90086-c

Cited by 54 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The lack of alcohol effect is consistent with findings by Jacobson et al (1993) on the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence at older ages. Moreover, in the present study, the amount of cocaethylene, a metabolite formed through the combined use of cocaine and alcohol, (Church, Holmes, Overbeck, Tilak, & Zajac, 1991) was unrelated to novelty preference, despite relationships of novelty preference with the quantity of two other cocaine metabolites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Neonatal visual information processing in cocaine-exposed and non-exposed infants

Singer

Arendt

Fagan

et al. 1999

Infant Behavior and Development

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This study investigated early neonatal visual preferences in 267 poly drug exposed neonates (131 cocaine-exposed and 136 non-cocaine exposed) whose drug exposure was documented through interviews and urine and meconium drug screens. Infants were given four visual recognition memory tasks comparing looking time to familiarized stimuli of lattices and rectangular shapes to novel stimuli of a schematic face and curved hourglass and bull's eye forms. Cocaine-exposed infants performed more poorly, after consideration of confounding factors, with a relationship of severity of cocaine exposure to lower novelty score found for both self-report and biologic measures of exposure, Findings support theories which link prenatal cocaine exposure to deficits in information processing entailing attentional and arousal organizational systems. Neonatal visual discrimination and attention tasks should be further explored as potentially sensitive behavioral indicators of teratologic effects. Keywordscocaine; neonatal visual attention; information processing; marijuana; alcohol poly drug exposure; visual recognition memory Over the past decade, prenatal cocaine exposure has emerged as a significant public health problem, affecting 5-15% of infants in urban areas of the United States. There is concern and controversy over cocaine's teratogenic potential since cocaine easily crosses the placental barrier during gestation (Woods, Plessinger, & Clark, 1987). This transmission of cocaine may directly and indirectly affect the fetus. Cocaine's stimulant effects on several neurotransmitter systems in adults have been noted (Wise, 1984), as cocaine prevents the reuptake of catecholamine presynaptically and has been found to affect primarily the cardiovascular, respiratory, and central nervous systems.There are a number of different mechanisms by which prenatal cocaine exposure could affect fetal development (Volpe, 1992). Alterations in catecholamine levels during gestation may affect the maturation of fetal neurotransmitter systems (Tennyson, Gershon, Budinkas, Copyright © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.• Lynn T. Singer, The Triangle Building, 11400 Euclid Avenue, Suite 250-A, Cleveland, Ohio 44106; Phone: (216) Fax: (216) & Rothman, 1983;Wang & Schnoll, 1986). Animal studies have found that prenatal cocaine exposure is associated with increased catecholaminergic fiber densities in selected brain areas such as the posterior parietal cortex (Akbari & Azmitra, 1992;Posner & Peterson, 1988). Cocaine exposure may affect fetal brain development through its release and metabolism of monoamines, which are important in the definition of fetal brain structure and neuronal formation . In addition, the reduction of blood flow prenatally to cocaine-exposed fetuses may affect later infant information processing or problem solving .The early behavioral development of cocaine-exposed infants has been studied using measures of sensory-motor processing such as the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), (Brazelton, 1984) neonatall...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Neonatal visual information processing in cocaine-exposed and non-exposed infants

Singer

Arendt

Fagan

et al. 1999

Infant Behavior and Development

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“…However, some evidence is available indicating that involuntary exposure to either ethanol or cocaine can affect a subsequent free choice of the other drug [9,11,25,32,33]. Here, we investigated how voluntary intake of either ethanol or cocaine alone -like the human situationwould affect voluntary choice of the same or other drug in a combination later on.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These two drugs were chosen because: (1) ethanol by itself is one of the most widely used and abused substances; (2) many users claim to obtain more of an euphoric effect from the combination of both drugs [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]; (3) ethanol can reduce the severe experiences of cocaine 'crash' [2]; (4) combined use of both drugs may be more toxic than individual components by themselves [9][10][11][12]; (5) ethanol and cocaine taken together are metabolized in the body to a novel metabolite, cocaethylene [7], and (6) animal studies have demonstrated that both substances might affect each other [13,14] as well as certain common neurotransmitter systems [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oral Self-Administration of Ethanol and Cocaine in Rats

Grathwohl

Dadmarz

Vogel³

2001

Pharmacology

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Most laboratory animal studies on self-administration of drugs of abuse use only one drug, whereas humans frequently engage in polydrug use. For this reason, we studied oral self-administration of ethanol (E) and cocaine (C) with the free choice bottle method using a single drug alone, a combination (E and C in separate bottles) or a mixture of both drugs in a single bottle. Young female rats (45 days) consumed similar amounts of C if offered alone (12.4 ± 7.5 mg/kg/day), in the presence of ethanol (10.6 ± 3.5) or as E/C mixture (8.0 ± 4.0). They also consumed similar amounts of E if offered alone (3.8 ± 1.6 ml/kg/day), in the presence of C (2.3 ± 0.8) or E/C mixture (2.4 ± 1.1). Voluntary consumption of both drugs varied markedly among animals but was consistent in a given rat. No correlation occurred between consumption of E and C. Young male rats behaved similarly and consumed similar amounts of E and C alone, in combination and as mixture. While E consumption was similar, C consumption was higher in female rats. Old male rats (180 days) were similar to young male rats. The presence of a saccharin solution as a distracter had no effect on intake of E or C in young females but reduced E intake only in young male rats. In young animals, prior voluntary consumption of either E or C had no effect on subsequent voluntary consumption of the same or other drug offered in combination. These results indicate that this model may be useful to study polydrug use in humans, that consumption of both E and C is strongly controlled by an individual animal, that prior exposure to one drug had no or little effect on a subsequent consumption of the same or other drug in combination and that intake of E or C seems to be independent of each other suggesting two independent reward centers.

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“…We have observed that cocaine administration to pregnant rats results in a dose‐dependent suppression of maternal weight gain and food consumption. 2–6 This is undoubtedly due to cocaine's appetite‐suppressing effects and increased energy demands from cocaine stimulation. Curiously, maternal water consumption is increased over normal levels, starting about the fourth treatment day.…”

Section: Maternal Outcomementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Prenatal Cocaine on Hearing, Vision, Growth, and Behavior^a

Church

Crossland

Holmes

et al. 1998

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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The illicit use of cocaine has increased dramatically over the last 10-12 years. There has been a corresponding increase in cocaine abuse among obstetric patients and in the number of "cocaine babies." According to some estimates, these children make up more than half of the drug-associated births. This problem is therefore a major public health concern. Consequently, our laboratory investigated the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on hearing, vision, growth, and exploratory/stress behavior. This chapter summarizes the literature on animals and humans on these topics and presents new observations from our laboratory. In terms of maternal toxicity, prenatal cocaine exposure causes hypertension, placental abruption, spontaneous abortion, poor pregnancy weight gain, and undernutrition secondary to appetite suppression. Some offspring effects include in utero growth retardation, cephalic hemorrhage, fetal edema, altered body composition, congenital malformations, and even pre- and postnatal death. The offspring can also exhibit a variety of behavioral, visual, hearing, and language disorders. Differential effects of animal strain and late gestational cocaine exposure are discussed. Comparisons are made between prenatal cocaine, the fetal alcohol syndrome, and the effects of prenatal undernutrition. Recommendations for clinical assessment and intervention are made.

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Interactive effects of prenatal alcohol and cocaine exposures on postnatal mortality, development and behavior in the Long-Evans rat

Cited by 54 publications

References 39 publications

Neonatal visual information processing in cocaine-exposed and non-exposed infants

Neonatal visual information processing in cocaine-exposed and non-exposed infants

Oral Self-Administration of Ethanol and Cocaine in Rats

Effects of Prenatal Cocaine on Hearing, Vision, Growth, and Behavior^a

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Interactive effects of prenatal alcohol and cocaine exposures on postnatal mortality, development and behavior in the Long-Evans rat

Cited by 54 publications

References 39 publications

Neonatal visual information processing in cocaine-exposed and non-exposed infants

Neonatal visual information processing in cocaine-exposed and non-exposed infants

Oral Self-Administration of Ethanol and Cocaine in Rats

Effects of Prenatal Cocaine on Hearing, Vision, Growth, and Behaviora

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Product

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Effects of Prenatal Cocaine on Hearing, Vision, Growth, and Behavior^a