The Acquisition of Passive Avoidance, Active Avoidance, and Spatial Navigation Tasks by Animals Prenatally Exposed to Cocaine

Pregnant Long-Evans rats were administered cocaine orally (60 mg/kg) on gestational days 14-21. One control group was administered the vehicle and another left untreated. Cocaine treatment produced some maternal lethality, and the weight gain of the surviving dams was reduced approximately 15%. Offspring of mothers treated with cocaine did not differ from those of untreated mothers in their numbers, birth weight, or growth. Weanling offspring were tested in a passive avoidance task, and adult offspring were tested for two-way active avoidance and in a spatial navigation task. Although a few animals in the cocaine group showed poor retention of passive avoidance, the group differences were not statistically significant. The adult animals showed normal performance in both the active avoidance and spatial navigation tasks.