Prenatal exposure to ethinylestradiol elicits behavioral abnormalities in the rat.
Pregnant rats were i.p. injected with a solution of 17alpha-ethinylestradiol (15 microg kg(-1)) every day between day 9 and day 14 of pregnancy and the behavior of the offspring was compared to that of rats born from dams injected with the vehicle only during the same gestational period. The percentage of neonatal death was dramatically high in the prenatally treated group. Growth of the surviving animals was even better than that of controls, but when adult, they exhibited a number of behavioral abnormalities: increased spontaneous motor activity, decreased exploratory behavior, impaired cognitive processing, qualitatively different exploratory drive, and/or persevering behavior, increased anxiety-like behavior and social neophobia. These behavioral alterations, which resemble a number of psychiatric syndromes, suggest that ethinylestradiol altered the ontogenesis of different parts of the central nervous system involved in cognitive and emotional processes. However, it cannot be excluded that the changes in behavior of ethinylestradiol exposed offspring were due to the abnormal maternal behavior of the estradiol treated dams.
Dugard
M L
ML
Laboratoire PSY.CO, U.F.R. de Psychologie, Université de Rouen, 76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan Cedex, France.
Tremblay-Leveau
H
H
Mellier
D
D
Caston
J
J
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000254:growth & development; D001007:Anxiety; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D004997:Ethinyl Estradiol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008098:Litter Size / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D011247:Pregnancy; D011287:Prejudice; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D004997:Ethinyl Estradiol