Enduring effects of prenatal diazepam on the behavior, EEG, and brain receptors of the adult cat progeny.
Pregnant cats were treated with a benzodiazepine receptor agonist, diazepam (DZ; Valium; average dose of 0.4 mg/kg/day, i.m.) between day 20 through day 53 of gestation in an attempt to alter the ontogenesis of the benzodiazepine receptors. As tested in fully developed one-year-old progenies, prenatal exposure to DZ resulted in a behavioral syndrome of hyperactivity, aggressiveness, behavioral signs of chronic anxiety, inability to habituate to novel environment, suppression or absence of the reward-induced alpha-like (7 to 11 Hz) electroencephalographic patterns during operantly conditioned behavior (bar pressing for 1 ml of milk reward), and deficits in the numbers of benzodiazepine receptors in the hypothalamus (-47%), fronto-orbital cortex (-33%) and postcentral cortex (-19%).
D000378:Agonistic Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects*; D002415:Cats; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects; D003975:Diazepam / Q000633:toxicity*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000187:drug effects*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D003975:Diazepam