Examining the Impact of Cocaine Exposed Spermatogonia on the Behaviour and Executive Functions of Naive Offspring: A Nature Vs Nurture Perspective | Chapter 7 | Medical Science: Recent Advances and Applications Vol. 8

 

In recent decades, much of Western society has been plagued by abuse of refined cocaine, which has become a major public health problem, currently impacting over 20 million adults and adolescent youth. In the USA, it currently impacts over 20 million adults and adolescents aged 12 and above, with a similar, alarming prevalence in other global populations. In chronic use, cocaine contributes to dopaminergic euphoria and aberrant behaviour, and may contribute to epigenetic damage to gene expression in unsuspecting offspring. The study aimed to investigate the effect of chronic cocaine use by males on the offspring of naïve females. In order to conduct the study, groups of 60-day old lean LA/Ntul//-cp rats were reared from weaning on standard Purina chow and house water, and administered 0 (Controls), 30 (Low Dose), or 60 (High Dose) mg/kg body weight of cocaine HCL daily for 90±2 days to fully encompass the duration of spermatogenesis. Opiate treated males were then mated with 82±3 day-old normally reared naive virgin females of the same strain that had never previously been exposed to cocaine or to a mating partner. Behavioural activity of each dosage level was assessed by subjecting the offspring post-weaning at 21 days of age with a Stoelting activity wheel and a Calvin Hall open access exploratory field test. In addition, offspring were tested only once, so as to preclude the chronological opportunity for learned behaviour following repeated trials, and to provide support for the contributions of nature vs. nurture in determining the outcome of offspring impacted by preconception opiate exposure. Offspring of pups were found to exhibit dose-related decreases in Stoelting wheel activity, with the greatest decrease at the highest dose administered (p=<0.01). Cocaine treatment resulted in a latency in onset of exploratory activity at both dosage levels, and decreased exploratory activity in both inner squares and outer squares at the low dose group. In contrast, the High Dose group demonstrated an increase in outer square exploration and in the total numbers of squares explored compared to the Low Dose groups or Controls. During the early stages of neurogenesis, epigenetic errors due to chemical or nutritional injury present at fertilisation may survive thereafter and, as occurred in this study, likely impact the behaviour of the offspring later in life. These results suggest that male cocaine exposure during spermatogenesis may result in longstanding dose-related behavioural changes in the offspring of naive females and may predispose them to potential cocaine stimulant-linked behavioural changes upon weaning, adolescence and later stages of life.

 

Author(s) Details

Orien L Tulp
Colleges of Medicine and Graduate Studies, University of Science Arts and Technology, Montserrat and East West College of Natural Medicine, Sarasota FL, USA.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/msraa/v8/5878