RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Prenatal Cocaine Exposure Increases Sensitivity to the Attentional Effects of the Dopamine D1 Agonist SKF81297
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 8902
OP 8908
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.20-23-08902.2000
VO 20
IS 23
A1 Lorna E. Bayer
A1 Alison Brown
A1 Charles F. Mactutus
A1 Rose M. Booze
A1 Barbara J. Strupp
YR 2000
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/20/23/8902.abstract
AB Sensitivity to the attentional effects of SKF81297, a selective full agonist at dopamine D1 receptors, was assessed in adult rats exposed to cocaine prenatally (via intravenous injections) and controls. The task assessed the ability of the subjects to monitor an unpredictable light cue of either 300 or 700 msec duration and to maintain performance when presented with olfactory distractors. SKF81297 decreased nose pokes before cue presentation and increased latencies and response biases (the tendency to respond to the same port used on the previous trial), suggesting an effect of SKF81297 on the dopamine (DA) systems responsible for response initiation and selection. The cocaine-exposed (COC) and control animals did not differ in sensitivity to the effects of SKF81297 on these measures. In contrast, the COC animals were significantly more sensitive than were controls to the impairing effect of SKF81297 on omission errors, a measure of sustained attention. This pattern of results provides evidence that prenatal cocaine exposure produces lasting changes in the DA system(s) subserving sustained attention but does not alter the DA system(s) underlying response selection and initiation. These findings also provide support for the role of D1 receptor activation in attentional functioning.