Behavioral Neurobiology Commons^™

Perinatal Exposure To Polychlorinated Biphenyls Alters Social Behaviors In Rats, Howard C. Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

Perinatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) leads to significant alterations of neural and hormonal systems. These alterations have been shown to impair motor and sensory development. Less is known about the influence of PCB exposure on developing emotional and motivational systems involved in social interactions and social learning. The present study examined the impact of perinatal PCB exposure (mixture of congeners 47 and 77) on social recognition in juvenile animals, conspecific-directed investigation in adults and on neural and hormonal systems involved in social functions. We used a standard habituation–dishabituation paradigm to evaluate juvenile recognition and a social port paradigm to …