Acute and chronic psychostimulant treatment modulates the diurnal rhythm activity pattern of WKY female adolescent rats

The psychostimulants considered the gold standard in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, one of the most common childhood disorders, are also finding their way into the hands of healthy young adults as brain augmentation to improve cognitive performance. The possible long-term effects of psychostimulant exposure in adolescence are considered controversial, and thus, the objective of this study was to investigate whether the chronic exposure to the psychostimulant amphetamine affects the behavioral diurnal rhythm activity patterns of female adolescent Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rat. The hypothesis of this study is that change in diurnal rhythm activity pattern is an indicator for the long-term effect of the treatment. Twenty-four rats were divided into two groups, control (N = 12) and experimental (N = 12), and kept in a 12:12-h light/dark cycle in an open-field cage. After 5–7 days of acclimation, 11 days of consecutive non-stop behavioral recordings began. On experimental day 1 (ED1), all groups were given an injection of saline. On ED2 to ED7, the experimental group was injected with 0.6 mg/kg amphetamine followed by 3 days of washout from ED8 to ED10, and amphetamine re-challenge on ED11 similar to ED2. The locomotor movements were counted by the computerized animal activity monitoring system, and the cosinor statistical test analysis was used to fit a 24-h curve of the control recording to the activity pattern after treatment. The horizontal activity, total distance, number of stereotypy, vertical activity, and stereotypical movements were analyzed to find out whether the diurnal rhythm activity patterns were altered. Data obtained using these locomotor indices of diurnal rhythm activity pattern suggest that amphetamine treatment significantly modulates the locomotor diurnal rhythm activity pattern of female WKY adolescent rats.