The effects of prenatal cocaine, post-weaning housing and sex on conditioned place preference in adolescent rats

Gestational exposure to cocaine now affects several million people including adolescents and young adults. Whether prenatal drug exposures alter an individual's tendency to take and/or abuse drugs is still a matter of debate. This study sought to answer the question Does prenatal exposure to cocaine, in a dose-response fashion, alter the rewarding effects of cocaine using a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure during adolescence in the rat? Further, we wanted to assess the possible sex differences and the role of being raised in an enriched versus impoverished environment. Virgin female Sprague-Dawley rats were dosed daily with cocaine at 30 mg/kg (C30), 60 mg/kg (C60), or vehicle intragastrically prior to mating and throughout gestation. Pups were culled, fostered and, on postnatal day (PND) 23, placed into isolation cages or enriched cages with three same-sex littermates and stimulus objects. On PND43-47, CPP was determined across a range of cocaine doses. C30 exposure increased sensitivity to the rewarding effects of cocaine in adolescent males, and being raised in an enriched environment further enhanced this effect. Rats exposed to C60 resembled the controls in cocaine CPP. Overall, females were modestly affected by prenatal cocaine and enrichment. These data support the unique sensitivity of males to the effects of gestational cocaine, that moderate prenatal cocaine doses produce greater effects on developing reward circuits than high doses and that housing condition interacts with prenatal treatment and sex such that enrichment increases cocaine CPP mostly in adolescent males prenatally exposed to moderate cocaine doses.