Variable prenatal stress results in impairments of sustained attention and inhibitory response control in a 5-choice serial reaction time task in rats

► Prenatal stress in rats leads to impairment of sustained attention. ► Prenatal stress in rats results in a loss of inhibitory response control. ► The deficits are exacerbated by NMDA antagonism. ► The deficits can be improved by a norepinephrine uptake inhibitor. ► Rat prenatal stress is a valid model system for studying neuropsychiatric disorders.