Recent research has shown that prenatal exposure to cocaine has long-term cognitive effects, with attentional functioning being most prominently affected. Based on the nature of the observed attentional effects, a likely neural mechanism is alterations in the coeruleocortical noradrenergic (NA) System. Using a rodent model of intravenous cocaine administration that mimics human recreational exposure, the present study will investigate the putative relationship between the long-term effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on the developing NA system and alterations in selective attention. In this study, adult rats that were exposed to cocaine prenatally will be tested on a series of tasks that provide specific indices of sustained and selective attention. Measures of these different aspects of attention (plus other functions as controls) will then be correlated with neural measures of coeruleocortical activity (obtained from the tested animals). This proposed study should provide important new information to determine whether early loss or dysfunction of NA cells contributes to the long-term cognitive changes observed after prenatal cocaine exposure. This information is crucial in formulating pharmacological interventions that may ameliorate the dysfunction in exposed children. The results of this study will also help clarify the neural mechanisms that underlie the regulation of sustained and selective attention.
| Gendle, Mathew H; Strawderman, Myla S; Mactutus, Charles F et al. (2004) Prenatal cocaine exposure does not alter working memory in adult rats. Neurotoxicol Teratol 26:319-29 |
| Gendle, Mathew H; White, Tara L; Strawderman, Myla et al. (2004) Enduring effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on selective attention and reactivity to errors: evidence from an animal model. Behav Neurosci 118:290-7 |
| Gendle, Mathew H; Strawderman, Myla S; Mactutus, Charles F et al. (2003) Impaired sustained attention and altered reactivity to errors in an animal model of prenatal cocaine exposure. Brain Res Dev Brain Res 147:85-96 |
