Paternal nicotine exposure in rats produces long-lasting neurobehavioral effects in the offspring.
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2019-05-16
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Studies of intergenerational effects of parental chemical exposure have principally focused on maternal exposure, particularly for studies of adverse neurobehavioral consequences on the offspring. Maternal nicotine exposure has long been known to cause adverse neurobehavioral effects on the offspring. However, paternal toxicant exposure has also been found to cause neurobehavioral toxicity in their offspring. Recent work suggests that paternal nicotine exposure can have epigenetic effects, although it remains unclear whether such changes lead to neurobehavioral effects. In the current study, we investigated the effects of paternal nicotine exposure on neurobehavioral development of their offspring. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 0 or 2 mg/kg/day nicotine (sc) for 56 consecutive days with two consecutive 2ML4 osmotic minipumps. Following treatment, these males were mated with drug-naïve female rats. Offspring of both sexes were tested in a behavioral battery to assess locomotion, emotional function and cognition. Paternal nicotine exposure did not impact offspring viability, health or growth. However, behavioral function of the offspring was significantly altered by paternal nicotine exposure. Male offspring with paternal nicotine exposure exhibited locomotor hyperactivity in the Figure-8 apparatus when tested during adolescence. When retested in adulthood and regardless of sex, offspring of the nicotine exposed father showed significantly reduced habituation of locomotor activity over the course of the session. Compared to controls, female offspring of nicotine-exposed fathers showed significantly reduced response latency in the radial arm maze test. In addition to locomotor hyperactivity, the offspring of nicotine-exposed fathers also showed significantly diminished habituation in the novel object recognition test. These results indicate that chronic paternal nicotine exposure can impact the behavior of offspring, producing locomotor hyperactivity and impaired habituation.
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Hawkey, Andrew B, Hannah White, Erica Pippen, Eva Greengrove, Amir H Rezvani, Susan K Murphy and Edward D Levin (2019). Paternal nicotine exposure in rats produces long-lasting neurobehavioral effects in the offspring. Neurotoxicology and teratology, 74. p. 106808. 10.1016/j.ntt.2019.05.001 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/19056.
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Scholars@Duke
Amir H. Rezvani
My research and teaching interests have been primarily focused on the following areas:
Alcoholism: I work with "alcoholic" rats with genetic predisposition!" We use selectively-bred alcohol preferring rats as an animal model of human alcoholism for developing better pharmacological treatments for alcoholism. Recently, we are working on several novel promising "anti-craving" compounds for the treatment of alcoholism. We are also studying the interaction between alcohol drinking and nicotine intake.
Nicotine Addiction: We have been studying age and sex differences in i.v. nicotine self-administration in rats. We have found that pattern of drug intake is both age- and sex-dependent. Our lab is also exploring different neuronal targets for developing better pharmacologic treatment for nicotine addiction.
Sustained Attention: Another aspect of our research is studying the role of the neuronal nicotinic and other neuronal systems in sustained attention using a rodent model. We have shown, nicotine (not smoking!) and nicotinic compounds improve attention in rats. A majority of people with schizophrenia smoke and they smoke heavily. Thus, it is important to understand the interaction of antipsychotic medications and nicotine in sustained attention. This has been another aspect of our research with interesting results. Presently, we are testing novel nicotinic compounds for improving pharmacologically-impaired sustained attention.
Teaching: I love to teach and interact with students. Since arriving at Duke in 1999, I have been team-teaching the popular alcohol course (Psych 206-01R; Alcohol: Brain, Society and Individual). I also enjoy mentoring undergrad students who are interested in science and enjoy working in the lab with cute little creatures!.
Community: I am a member of the Board of Directors of Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers (TROSA), a self-supported therapeutic community in Durham. I also give seminars and workshops on addiction around the country.
Edward Daniel Levin
Dr. Levin is Chief of the Neurobehavioral Research Lab in the Psychiatry Department of Duke University Medical Center. His primary academic appointment is as Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He also has secondary appointments in the Department Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke. His primary research effort is to understand basic neural interactions underlying cognitive function and addiction and to apply this knowledge to better understand cognitive dysfunction and addiction disorders and to develop novel therapeutic treatments.
The three main research components of his laboratory are focused on the themes of the basic neurobiology of cognition and addiction, neurobehavioral toxicology and the development of novel therapeutic treatments for cognitive dysfunction and substance abuse. Currently, our principal research focus concerns nicotine. We have documented the basic effects of nicotine on learning memory and attention as well as nicotine self-administration. We are continuing with more mechanistic studies in rat models using selective lesions, local infusions and neurotransmitter interaction studies. We have found that nicotine improves memory performance not only in normal rats, but also in rats with lesions of hippocampal and basal forebrain connections. We are concentrating on alpha7 and alpha4beta2 nicotinic receptor subtypes in the hippocampus, amygdala , thalamus and frontal cortex and how they interact with dopamine D1 and D2 and glutamate NMDA systems with regard to memory and addiction. I am also conducting studies on human cognitive behavior. We have current studies to assess nicotine effects on attention, memory and mental processing speed in schizophrenia, Alzheimer's Disease and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In the area of neurobehavioral toxicology, I have continuing projects to characterize the adverse effects of prenatal and adolescent nicotine exposure. Our primary project in neurobehavioral toxicology focuses on the cognitive deficits caused by the marine toxins. The basic and applied aims of our research complement each other nicely. The findings concerning neural mechanisms underlying cognitive function help direct the behavioral toxicology and therapeutic development studies, while the applied studies provide important functional information concerning the importance of the basic mechanisms under investigation.
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