PRENATAL AND POSTNATAL EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE ON BRAIN BIOGENIC-AMINES, CYCLIC-NUCLEOTIDES AND BEHAVIOR IN DEVELOPING RATS

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 226  (3) , 673-679
Abstract
To examine the perinatal effects of caffeine on pup behavior and brain neurochemistry, rat mothers were exposed to caffeine in a choice situation prenatally, postnatally, at both times or at neither time. Prenatally, caffeine-exposed mothers drank .apprx. 14 mg/kg per day, an amount ineffective in altering mothers'' overall prenatal body weight, although it did reliably decrease birth femur length of offspring. Postnatal pup activity measures revealed that postnatal caffeine exposure depressed activity, with an additional contribution of prenatal caffeine exposure. Those effects occurred at caffeine intake levels (.apprx. 48 mg/kg per day) which minimally affected pup body weight, body length, femur length or eye-opening. Postwithdrawal (35 days of age) biochemical determinations revealed significant postnatal effects of caffeine by depressing cAMP/whole-brain and elevating the cGMP/cAMP ratio in cerebellum. Whole-brain levels of dopamine and norepinephrine were not affected by the caffeine treatments. Apparently, activity profiles may be a more sensitive index of caffeine toxicity than other indices of physical development and cyclic nucleotides may play at least some role in the hypoactivity, inducing effects of caffeine in developing rats. [Implications of these results for other studies of the potential teratogenic effects of caffeine were discussed.].