Effects of short- and long-term withdrawal from gestational cocaine treatment on maternal behavior and aggression in Sprague-Dawley rats

Pregnant rats were treated with 30 mg/kg per day cocaine or normal saline either throughout gestation (GD 1-20, cocaine and saline withdrawal) or throughout gestation and continuing into lactation for 10 days postpartum (cocaine and saline nonwithdrawal). All cocaine-treated dams exhibited more disruptions in the onset of maternal behavior (retrieval, licking, crouching) and were more aggressive (threats and attacks) towards an intruder on postpartum day 6 than saline-treated dams, There were no significant differences in these behaviors between withdrawn and nonwithdrawn cocaine-treated dams. These findings indicate that changes in maternal behavior following chronic moderate cocaine treatment are not simply the result of withdrawal from cocaine treatment following gestation and that other possible mechanisms should be examined.