Term of Award

Spring 2025

Degree Name

Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Joshua Herrington

Committee Member 1

Ellen Williams

Committee Member 2

Jonathan Roberts

Abstract

The present study investigated the individual and combined effects of elevated perinatal inflammation, oxidative stress caused by acetaminophen (APAP) exposure, or elevated inflammation and oxidative stress on adult learning behaviors in Long-Evans rats. While prior studies have examined these factors independently, the combined effects of inflammation and oxidative stress via APAP exposure during early development on learning-related behaviors remain unexplored. The present research aimed to address this gap by the analysis of potential long-term neurodevelopmental consequences of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation and APAP-induced oxidative stress. LPS, APAP, or LPS + APAP was administered during the perinatal period: postnatal days (PD) 9, 11, and 13. Rats were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: saline vehicle-only controls, inflammation-only (LPS injection), oxidative stress-only (APAP), and combined inflammation + oxidative stress (LPS + APAP) exposure. Behavioral outcomes were assessed using a free-shaping lever press task, which included habituation, magazine training, and lever press phases. Contrary to our predictions, the results did not reveal significant differences in task performance between the experimental groups and controls. Additionally, no significant sex differences were observed in lever press or magazine training responses. Small sample sizes (n = 3/sex/condition) likely limited statistical power to detect subtle effects. However, trends observed in the data suggest further studies are needed. A marginal interaction (p = .052) indicates that LPS+APAP rats exhibited greater session-to-session variability (ΔM = 0.12) compared to controls (ΔM = 0.08), which may lead to inconsistent learning trajectories. While the study's hypotheses were not supported, this research contributes to the scarce body of literature on early-life exposures to inflammation and/or oxidative stress and their potential impact on neurodevelopment and learning-related behaviors.

OCLC Number

1520504737

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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