Abstract
The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that, during adulthood, the offspring of adolescent rats differ in emotionality, learning and memory from the offspring of adult rats. The behavior of the offspring of adolescent (age, 50-55 days) and adult rats (age, 90-95 days) was tested in the open field, activity cage, and passive and active avoidance apparatus. The latencies during training and testing in the passive avoidance apparatus of the offspring of adolescent parents were shorter than the latencies of control offspring (P<0.001 on both training and testing days). Offspring of adolescent parents showed shorter latency time in acquisition trials during active avoidance testing compared to control offspring (P<0.001). They also showed a higher number of active avoidance responses in the last four blocks of acquisition (P<0.001) and first two blocks of extinction trials (P<0.05 and P<0.001, respectively). The offspring of adolescent parents showed higher latency on the first day of testing in the open field (P<0.01) and a lower latency on the third day of testing (P<0.01). They also showed higher activity during all three days of testing (1st and 2nd day: P<0.01; 3rd day: P<0.05). The spontaneous activity of the offspring of adolescent parents in the activity cage was higher in the last three intervals of testing (P<0.001). In summary, the offspring of adolescent parents were less anxious and tended to be more active. The results of two learning and memory tests were opposite, but could be explained by a higher exploratory drive of the offspring of adolescent parents. This was probably due to chronic malnutrition stress and the disturbed mother-infant relationship in the litters of adolescent mothers.
Highlights
The term adolescent pregnancy has been applied to pregnancy at an age and/or developmental stage that is considered premature or inappropriate, especially with respect to its outcome
The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that, during adulthood, the offspring of adolescent rats differ in emotionality, learning and memory from the offspring of adult rats
The 81- to 82day-old offspring were tested for passive avoidance, and 83- to 84-day-old offspring were tested for active avoidance
Summary
The term adolescent pregnancy has been applied to pregnancy at an age and/or developmental stage that is considered premature or inappropriate, especially with respect to its outcome. Young maternal age is believed to be related to, and may be a causative factor of, the higher risk of adverse neonatal outcome [1]. Increasing maternal age in humans (up to the age of 35 years) reduces the risk of a low-birth weight infant. One study suggests that school-age children of adolescents exhibit more behavioral problems and score lower on intellectual tests than school-age children of adults [2]. It is unclear why these children have more developmental problems. Whether the antecedents of these childrens behavioral and cognitive problems lie in the motherchild interaction, socioeconomic disadvantage, or in other factors is still unclear [2]
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