Effects of prenatal exposure to chronic caffeine on locomotor and emotional behavior

Abstract

Following chronic prenatal exposure to 24 or 44 mg/kg per day caffeine added throughout gestation to the drinking water of pregnant rats, open-field behavior and latencies to emerge from a dark to a brightly lit area were observed in offspring at mean ages of 73, 117, and 171 days. The higher dose decreased locomotor activity at all ages and increased defecation for females and the number of male rats that failed to emerge in the emergence tests. Prenatal caffeine also increased relative adrenal weights in 90-day-old male subjects. It was concluded that prenatal exposure to 44 mg/kg per day caffeine led to increased emotional reactivity in the offspring and thus decreased locomotor activity. © 1987, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.