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The Effects of Developmental Lead Poisoning on the Adult Rat's Freezing and Exploration Behaviors in a Hole Board Test
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2019-04-26
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Lead poisoning is a well-established neurotoxicant that produces developmental
neuropathologies that persist across the lifespan. However, how these early
neurodeveloprnental insults impair sensorimotor, emotional, and cognitive behavioral
systems later on in life remain to be elucidated. The present study examined Long Evans
hooded rats that were exposed to 1,000 ppm lead acetate perinatally or Control rats that
were not exposed to lead (i.e., 0 ppm). The male offspring from at least 5 different litters
were randomly selected to form the treatment conditions. The perinatal group was
exposed to lead 1-month prior to pairing, throughout gestation, birth, and ceased
exposure at postnatal day (PND) 22. At PND 22 rats were subjected to a two-day hole
board test whereby Day 1 served as an anxiogenic assessment and Day 2 served as a
habituated and odor evoked novel exploration test within the identical apparatus. The
only difference was that on Day 2 four novel odor extracts were positioned under the
apparatus. The total time mobile, number of head pokes, and duration of head poking
were recorded across both test days. The hole board test revealed that male Perinatal
lead-exposed rats on Day I froze more and exhibited elevated emotional fear responses,
when compared to the Control rats. Interestingly, on Day 2 Control rats engaged in
significantly more head poking than they did on Day 1. Thus, evidencing the ability to
emotionally habituate to t.he prior anxiogenic stimulus and engage in sensorimotor
dependent exploratory behaviors. However, the Perinatal lead-exposed rats exhibited
difficulty in shifting from their anxiogenic responses, showed little habituation, and a
delayed on-set to sensorimotor dependent exploration of the novel odors. The data
suggest that perinatal lead poisoning impairs sensory processes required for contextual
adaptations, efficiency, and ongoing environmental changes directed by the prefrontal
cortical through goal directed behaviors.
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Student research presented at SURC-2019, Farmingdale, NY sponsored by multiple departments at SUNY Old Westbury that examines the effects of lead exposure on adult rodents sensorimotor, emotional, and cognitive behavioral
systems.