Some effects of prenatal zinc deficiency on behavior of the adult rat.

The effect of zinc deficiency during the latter third of gestation on avoidance conditioning of young adult male rats was compared with the effect of intrauterine starvation and normal pregnancy. Animals which had experienced zinc deficiency avoided shock less well than the offspring of pair-fed control dams. The offspring of pair-fed dams avoided shock less well than animals which were the product of normal pregnancy. Response latencies were inferior in the zinc-deficient group, whereas intertrial responses were less on both the previous zinc-deficient and intrauterine starved animals.