Perinatal caffeine, acting on maternal adenosine A(1) receptors, causes long-lasting behavioral changes in mouse offspring.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There are lingering concerns about caffeine consumption during pregnancy or the early postnatal period, partly because there may be long-lasting behavioral changes after caffeine exposure early in life.

Methodology/principal findings

We show that pregnant wild type (WT) mice given modest doses of caffeine (0.3 g/l in drinking water) gave birth to offspring that as adults exhibited increased locomotor activity in an open field. The offspring also responded to cocaine challenge with greater locomotor activity than mice not perinatally exposed to caffeine. We performed the same behavioral experiments on mice heterozygous for adenosine A(1) receptor gene (A(1)RHz). In these mice signaling via adenosine A(1) receptors is reduced to about the same degree as after modest

SUBMITTER: Bjorklund O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2597749 | biostudies-literature | 2008

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature