The effects of cocaine on maternal behaviors in the rat

Abstract

Although recent research has focused on the behavioral teratology of cocaine, there has been little attention centered on the effects of cocaine use on parenting behaviors after birth. This experiment investigated the effects of cocaine on parental (generally termed maternal) behavior in the rat. Four types of adult rats were tested for these effects over a 10-day testing period: lactating primiparous female dams, primiparous females, nulliparous females, and males. Subjects were injected daily with cocaine (5 mg/kg) or saline. Ten minutes postinjection each subject was placed in a cage with three stimulus pups and nesting material, and observed for several measures of maternal behavior for 5 minutes, including sniffing, licking, and retrieving pups. Subjects were also rated on a maternal behavior scale at 60 minutes and 24 hours postinjection, and on nest quality. Cocaine reduced both the total number and duration of sniffing and licking maternal behaviors, and resulted in a lower maternal behavior rating at 60 minutes compared to saline-treated subjects. Among those subjects that retrieved pups within the first 5 minutes, cocaine-injected subjects retrieved for a longer duration. These results also suggest impaired maternal behavior, since rapid retrievals would have been more efficient in maintaining a nest huddle. Thus, cocaine impaired the parenting ability of both male and female rats, with and without previous parenting experience.