Correlation among the Behavioral Features in the Offspring of Morphine-Abstinent Rats

BACKGROUND: Critical analysis of new evidence in medical sciences relies on statistics in terms of correlation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlation coefficients among the behavioral features in the offspring of morphine-abstinent parent(s). METHODS: The offspring of rats with various parental morphine-exposure were divided into four groups including offspring with healthy parents (CTL), offspring with paternal morphine-abstinent (PMA) parent, offspring with maternal morphine-abstinent (MMA) parent, and offspring with both morphine-abstinent (BMA) parents. Pain perception, depression-like behavior and avoidance-memory in the offspring were quantified. The association between variables was measured using Pearson correlation analysis. FINDINGS: A strong correlation was observed between pain and depressive-like behavior in female and male offspring of healthy parents. Moreover, in the male and female offspring of healthy parents and BMA, no significant correlation was observed between avoidance memory and pain behavior or depressive-like behavior. However, in the offspring of MMA, a strong correlation was observed between avoidance memory and depressive-like behavior. CONCLUSION: The results revealed that in comparison with the offspring with CTL, the correlation among the behavioral futures in the offspring with MMA or PMA parents is significantly different.