Effects of developmental fluoride exposure on rat ultrasonic vocalization, acoustic startle reflex and pre-pulse inhibition

Rats receiving fluoride during the whole pregnancy up to the 9 th day of lacta - tion showed, when isolated at 10 th day of life, a reduced rate of ultrasonic vocalizations (UV) in male pups (NaF 5.0 mg) and, in 90th days male rats, an increase of the Pre-Pulse Inhibition (PPI) with a reduction of the Peak response to the Startle stimulus given alone. Newborn rat reac - tivity could represent a useful and validated model in anxiety studies which could be moored with the Acoustic Startle Reflex (ASR) and PPI, appropriate models to study, in adulthood, par - ticular neurological and psychiatric disorders showing deficits in attention and sensory-motor gating (Tourettes' syndrome, obsessive compul - sive disorders, Huntington's disease and schizo - phrenia) .