Acute and adaptive motor responses to caffeine in adolescent and adult rats

Caffeine is a psychostimulant with intake through foods or beverages tending to increase from childhood through adolescence. The goals of the present study were to examine the effects of caffeine on young adolescent Long-Evans rats and to compare the motor-behavioral responses of adolescent and adult rats to acute and chronic caffeine. Adolescent rats had a biphasic dose-response to caffeine comparable to that reported for adult rats. The magnitude of the motor response to a challenge dose of caffeine (30mg/kg, ip) was similar between adolescent and adult rats. Administration of caffeine in the drinking water (1mg/ml) for a period of 2 weeks led to overall consumption of caffeine which was not significantly different between adolescents and adults when normalized to body mass. There were no impacts of caffeinated drinking water on volume of fluid consumed nor weight gain in either age group compared to age matched controls drinking non-caffeinated tap water. Following this period of caffeine consumption, return to regular drinking water (caffeine withdrawal) led to a significant decrease in baseline movement compared to caffeine-naïve rats. This effect inversion was observed for adolescents but not adults. In addition, the response of the adolescents to the challenge dose of caffeine (30mg/kg, ip) was reduced significantly after chronic caffeine consumption and withdrawal. This apparent tolerance to the caffeine challenge dose was not seen with the adults. Thus, the developing brain of these adolescents may show similar sensitivity to adults in acute caffeine exposure but greater responsiveness to adaptive changes associated with chronic caffeine consumption.