ABSTRACT
Caffeine acts as a central nervous system stimulant. It is commonlyusedasbeverage to influence alertness. This study was designed to ascertain the possiblemodulating influence of caffeine on gross behavioral activities in Wistar rat. Forty-five (45) adult Wistar rats weighing 180-200g of both sexes where usedforthis study. The rats were acclimatized for a period of 2 weeks beforethecommencement of administration. The rats were divided into nine groups byuseofbody markings. Group 1 (control) group- received 0.4ml of normal salineasasingle dose without any treatment throughout the experiment. Group 2- received2mg/kg body weight of caffeine as a single dose. Group 3- received 4mg/kgbodyweight of caffeine as a single dose. Similarly, Group 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9received8mg/kg, 16mg/kg, 32mg/kg, 64mg/kg, 128mg/kg and 256mg/kg bodyweight ofcaffeine respectively. Gross behavioral activities of climbing, scratching, rearing, sniffing, stereotype movement, locomotor activity, feeding, drinkingandaggression were monitored. In each experimental group, care was taken toobservetwo (2) animals of same sex, weight and age and were kept in a transparent cageand monitored at the same time for five times (5). Tally counting methodwasusedto record behavioral activities for a period of one hour. Statistical analysiswasdone using graph pad prism version 8.1 and the paired sample T-TESTwereusedto compare behavioral activities of the rats in different doses of administeredcaffeine as compared to the control group.The results were presented as mean±standard error of mean (SEM) and values of P<0.05 was considered statisticallysignificant. The result showed that at different doses of caffeine administration, there was a significant increase in rearing activity, stereotype movement andfeeding activity while locomotor activity, drinking activity, climbing activityandscratching showed significant decrease (p≤0.05). The appeared to be no observableeffects or changes in aggressive behavior throughout the durationof theexperiment. It was concluded that caffeine may have behavioral excitatoryandsedative effects, and its action on the central nervous systemmay be closelylinkedwith the neurotransmitter systems that normally regulate the various forms of behavior.
