title: Effects of delta 9-THC on pregnancy and offspring in rats.
abstract: Pregnant rats were intubated with increasing doses of delta 9-THC (5-50 mg/kg/day) up to gestation day 5. On gestation day 5, these animals continued to receive either 50 or 150 mg/kg/day of delta 9-THC. Animals receiving the 50 mg/kg/day dose and a control group of vehicle (olive oil) treated animals were pair-fed and pair- watered to animals given the 150 mg/kg/day dose. A second control group served as nontreated, ad lib control animals. Animals were tested postnatally for spontaneous alteration, avoidance learning and rotarod behavior to determine if delta 9-THC was behaviorally teratogenic. Drug treatments produced a dose-related decrease in pregnancies carried to term, weight gain during pregnancy, and birth weight. However, since no viable litters were born to animals in the high dose-group, their data was not included in statistical analyses. Nevertheless, the effects of drug treatment (50 mg/kg/day) were still statistically significant for weight gain during pregnancy and birth weight. Drug treatment (50 mg/kg/day) did not affect litter size or weight at 21 days of age, nor did it affect any of the behavioral tests.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D013759:Dronabinol / Q000633:toxicity*; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000187:drug effects; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D013759:Dronabinol