Effect of gestational undernutrition and chlordiazepoxide treatment on black/white discrimination learning and...

Effects of prenatal undernutrition and chlordiazepoxide treatment on learning acquisition, and subsequent retention, of a black/white discrimination task, was assessed in the offspring. Undernutrition of the dams was induced by restricting food intake to half, throughout the period of gestation, whereas chlordiazepoxide (2.5 mg/kg, ip) treatment was given from day 13 to 20 of gestation, this being the critical period for neural development in this species. The pups born were subjected to brightness discrimination learning, and retention of the learning acquisition after an interval of one week, in a single unit black/white T-maze, at 8-9 weeks of age. The results indicate that prenatal undernutrition induces significant learning and retention deficits in the offspring. Prenatally administered chlordiazepoxide induced significant deficits in learning acquisition and subsequent retention of the discrimination problem. Chlordiazepoxide induced similar learning and retention deficits in the normal and undernourished rats, and exaggerated the learning and retention deficits induced by undernutrition. The results indicated that the prenatal insults in the form of undernourishment and anxiolytic benzodiazepine compounds, leave a lasting imprint on cognitive behaviour of the offspring.