A comparison of the effects of cytosine arabinoside and adenine arabinoside on some aspects of brain growth and development in the rat.
1. Treatment of pregnant rats with cytosine arabinoside (ara-C, 50 mg/kg, i.p.)at 14 days of gestation severely impaired both prenatal and postnatal whole brain growth in their offspring, although the cerebellum was relatively less affected than whole brain. 2. Rats treated at 5 days of age with ara-C (250 mg/kg, i.p.) showed an impairment in growth of the cerebellum relative to the rest of the brain. 3. Adenine arabinoside (ara-A) treatment, either prenatally or postnatally, had negligible effect on brain growth, even at doses considerably higher than those of ara-C. 4. Adult rats, previously treated with ara-C (50 mg/kg, i.p.) at 14 days of gestation, showed an impairment in discrimination learning when tested in a water T-maze. 5. These results are discussed in relation to the proposed use of ara-C or ara-A as antiviral agents, particularly against intrauterine infection with cytomegalovirus.
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000254:growth & development*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D011247:Pregnancy; D011684:Purine Nucleosides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D014740:Vidarabine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity
D011684:Purine Nucleosides; D003561:Cytarabine; D014740:Vidarabine