Figure 4. Prenatal TURP treatment increased acute and sensitized AMPH-induced locomotion, which are prevented by maternal iron co-administration.

(A) Basal locomotion in the adult offspring of SAL-VEH (n = 45), TURP-VEH (n = 50), SAL-IRON (n = 23) and TURP-IRON (n = 26) treated dams was not affected by any treatment when animals were introduced to the behavioral chambers for the first time. (B) AMPH administration (i.p. 2 mg/kg) for 5 consecutive days induced a progressive enhancement of the locomotor activating effects, which was overall grater among the offspring of TURP-VEH treated dams compare to their SAL-VEH counterparts. This effect was completely prevented by iron co-treated, with the offspring of the TURP-IRON and SAL-IRON groups showing identical levels of locomotor behavior, which were also indistinguishable from those of the SAL-VEH group. Saline pre-treated: SAL-VEH n = 24, TURP-VEH n = 26, SAL-IRON n = 12 and TURP-IRON n = 12. AMPH pre-treated: SAL-VEH n = 21, TURP-VEH n = 24, SAL-IRON n = 11 and TURP-IRON n = 14. (C) Seven days after the last saline or AMPH injection, all animals were tested for sensitization, with a lower dose of AMPH (i.p. 1 mg/kg). All AMPH pre-treated animals showed significantly greater response to this dose of AMPH (dashed bars) than the saline-pretreated animals (white bars). Among the AMPH pre-treated animals, those born to TURP-VEH and SAL-IRON presented significantly greater sensitization response, whereas in the offspring of TURP-IRON dams, sensitization response was comparable to control animals. p<0.01: # vs. saline pre-treated counterpart, * vs. AMPH pre-treated SAL-VEH, & vs. AMPH pre-treated TURP-VEH, @ vs. AMPH pre-treated SAL-IRON.