Prenatal and Postnatal Cocaine Enhances the Induction and Expression of Locomotor Sensitization to Nicotine in Male Rats

Abstract

Introduction Several studies mention that early consumption of cannabis, alcohol, or even cocaine is related to an increase in the prevalence of daily consumption of tobacco in adulthood. However, other factors, such as genetic comorbidity, social influences, and even molecular, neurochemical, and behavioral alterations induced by prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure, could also explain these observations, since these factors together increase the vulnerability of the offspring to the reinforcing effects of nicotine. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of prenatal and postnatal exposure to cocaine on nicotine-induced locomotor sensitization in young and adult rats. Methods The study was divided into two stages: prenatal and postnatal. In the prenatal stage, a group of pregnant female Wistar rats was administered cocaine daily from day GD0 to GD21 (cocaine preexposure group), and another group of pregnant female rats was administered saline daily (saline preexposure group). Of the litters resulting from the cocaine preexposed and saline preexposed pregnant female groups, in the postnatal stage, only the male rats were used for the recording of the locomotor activity induced by different doses of nicotine (0.2, 0.4, 0.6 mg/Kg) during the induction and expression of locomotor sensitization at different postnatal ages (30, 60, 90 and 120 days). Results Prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure enhanced nicotine-induced locomotor activity and locomotor sensitization. Conclusions This suggests that prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure can result in increased vulnerability to other drugs of abuse, such as nicotine, in humans. Implications Several studies have shown that the abuse of a drug, such as cannabis, alcohol, or even cocaine, at an early age can progress to more severe levels of use of other drugs, such as nicotine, to adulthood. Our data are consistent with this hypothesis, since prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure enhanced the nicotine-induced increase in locomotor activity and locomotor sensitization. This suggests that prenatal and postnatal exposure to cocaine enhances the drug's salience.

Prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure enhances the anxiety‐ and depression‐like behaviors in rats during cocaine withdrawal

“…In rodents, the prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure dose‐dependent enhanced locomotor activity and cocaine‐ or nicotine‐induced locomotor sensitization (Barbosa‐Méndez & Salazar‐Juárez, 2020, 2022; Crozatier et al., 2003; Magalhães et al., 2005; Sobrian et al., 2008). These studies suggest that prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure increases cocaine salience (Barbosa‐Méndez & Salazar‐Juárez, 2020, 2022; Sobrian et al., 2008), supporting the hypothesis that perinatal cocaine exposure increases offspring's vulnerability to cocaine's reinforcing and psychomotor effects.…”

“…Thus, given that (1) prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure increases the vulnerability of offspring to cocaine effects (Barbosa‐Mendez & Salazar‐Juárez, 2022), (2) emotional (anxiety and depression) disorders that occur during withdrawal also increase the risk of relapse of cocaine abuse (Conway et al., 2006; Grant et al., 2004), (3) the history of cocaine withdrawal symptoms may be associated with better cocaine responses and greater severity of cocaine dependence (Sofuoglu et al., 2006), and (4) to our knowledge no longitudinal study has been reported to assess the effects of prenatal and postnatal cocaine exposure on anxiety and depression‐like behaviors during cocaine withdrawal; Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize anxiety‐ and depression‐like behaviors at different times (1, 30, 60, 90, and 120 days) of cocaine withdrawal in rats born to females exposed prenatally and postnatally to cocaine. To do this, we use several behavioral tools to determine anxiety‐ and depression‐like behaviors.…”