The effects of lead toxication on learning in rats

Impairment of learning resulting from lead poisoning has yet to be demonstrated in rats. The behavioral task used in previous studies to assess learning, however, may not have been sufficiently complex to serve as a discriminative index. The performance of rats injected with a lead acetate solution was compared to the performance of control rats in learning to run a complex maze. Though the learning acquisition rate was somewhat impaired in the lead-injected animals, the groups learned to complete the maze with equivalent success by the third training session. It was concluded that the study did not demonstrate convincing evidence of learning impairment in the lead-injected animals.