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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Quantification of Social Behavior in Adult Rats
Published on: December 14, 2014
Effects of single and repeated exposures to abate on rat behavior and cholinesterase activity
Abstract:
Rats were injected i.p. with the organophosphate insecticide ABATE and tested over the next 16 days. Animals given 1000 mg/kg showed impaired performance of a previously conditioned avoidance response 6 days after injection but not 2, 8, 10, or 16 days after injection. No behavioral changes were observed in animals given 316 or 562 mg/kg. A subsequent experiment showed that the avoidance impairment in animals given 1000 mg/kg was accompanied by significant erythrocyte, plasma, and brain cholinesterase activity inhibition and decreased spontaneous motor activity. If administration of the same ABATE dose was distributed over 6 days (167 mg/kg/day), cholinesterase and motor activity depression was still evident but conditioned avoidance performance was unimpaired. The results were interpreted as differential behavioral adaption to repeated injections of ABATE.
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