Prenatal IV nicotine exposure produces a sex difference in sensorimotor gating of the auditory startle reflex in adult rats

▶ Animals exposed to gestational IV nicotine exhibited a generalized increase in startle responding compared to controls at PND 14. ▶ On PND 18, animals preexposed to nicotine during gestation displayed hyperresponsive startle reflexes compared to controls with auditory, but not tactile, prepulse stimuli. ▶ When tested during adulthood, female rats prenatally exposed to nicotine showed a relative insensitivity to changes in the interstimulus interval (8-120 ms) compared to males exposed to nicotine. ▶ An intermittent, low dose regime of IV nicotine during gestation produced long-term alterations in both preweanling and adult rats' acoustic startle responding.