Prenatal l-DOPA exposure produces lasting changes in brain dopamine content, cocaine-induced dopamine release and cocaine conditioned place preference

Dopamine, its receptors and transporter are present in the brain beginning from early in the embryonic period. Dopamine receptor activation can influence developmental events including neurogenesis, neuronal migration and differentiation raising the possibility that dopamine imbalance in the fetal brain can alter development of the brain and behavior. We examined whether elevated dopamine levels during gestation can produce persisting changes in brain dopamine content and dopamine-mediated behaviors. We administered L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) in drinking water to timed-pregnant CD1 mice from the 11th day of gestation until the day of parturition. The prenatal l-DOPA exposure led to significantly lower cocaine conditioned place preference, a behavioral test of reward, at postnatal day 60 (P60). However, in vivo microdialysis measurements showed significant increases in cocaine-induced dopamine release in the caudate putamen of P26 and P60 mice exposed to l-DOPA prenatally, ruling out attenuated dopamine release in the caudate putamen as a contributor to decreased conditioned place preference. Although dopamine release was induced in the nucleus accumbens of prenatally l-DOPA exposed mice at P60 by cocaine, the dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens was not significantly different between the l-DOPA and control groups. However, basal dopamine release was significantly higher in the prenatally l-DOPA exposed mice at P60 suggesting that the l-DOPA exposed mice may require a higher dose of cocaine for induction of cocaine place preference than the controls. The prenatal l-DOPA exposure did not alter cocaine-induced locomotor response, suggesting dissociation between the effects of prenatal l-DOPA exposure on conditioned place preference and locomotor activity. Tissue concentration of dopamine and its metabolites in the striatum and ventral midbrain were significantly affected by the l-DOPA exposure as well as by developmental changes over the P14-P60 period. Thus, elevation of dopamine levels during gestation can produce persisting changes in brain dopamine content, cocaine-induced dopamine release and cocaine conditioned place preference.