Valium Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Valium, including details on diazepam, depression, side-effects, withdrawal. | ||||||||
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Prenatal malnutrition alters diazepam-mediated suppression of ultrasonic vocalizations in an age dependent manner.Tonkiss J, Galler J Center for Behavioral Development & Mental Retardation, M923, Boston University School of Medicine, 715 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118, USA. jtonkiss@bu.edu The sensitivity of prenatally malnourished rats to the ultrasonic vocalization (USV) suppressant effect of diazepam (a non-specific benzodiazepine (BZ) receptor agonist) was investigated. Male offspring of dams provided with a protein deficient diet (6% casein) for 5 weeks prior to mating and throughout pregnancy were compared to the offspring of mothers provided with a diet of adequate protein content (25% casein). At postnatal day 7 or 11, pups were injected with vehicle or one of five doses of DZ (0.03, 0.1, 0.3, 1 or 3mg/kg) 30 min after removal from their dam. Thirty minutes later they were subjected to 2 min of cooling on a 20 degrees C surface and their USVs were quantified. DZ dose-dependently suppressed USV at both ages. At P7, the USV suppressant effect of DZ was the same for both groups. However, by P11 the prenatally malnourished rats showed significantly greater suppression of USV by 0.03 and 0.1mg/kg DZ than well-nourished controls. These differences were not related to degree of temperature loss or body weight. Thus, differential sensitivity to BZ receptor agonists develops in the second postnatal week in prenatally malnourished rats. This reflects either an altered program of development of the GABAergic system, or adaptive, compensatory changes in the GABAergic system in response to more extensive functional disturbances in the developing brain. Published 31 July 2007 in Behav Brain Res, 182(2): 337-43.
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