Effects of pregnancy cocaine exposure on the mother and fetus: a murine model.
The aim of the experiments was to develop and characterize a murine model for investigating the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on the mother and fetus. Pregnant mice were separated into three groups: group 1 was treated with cocaine HCl at 10 mg/kg twice daily (COC); group 2 was treated with saline at 10 ml/kg twice daily (SAL); and group 3 was pair-fed with the COC dams and was injected with saline following the same schedule (SPF) from embryonic day (E) 8 to 17. We utilized high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detector and electrochemical detector to test the concentrations of cocaine, dopamine and serotonin, as well as HE staining to observe morphological alterations of liver and placenta. Though less food intake and lower weight gain were observed in COC and SPF groups but not in SAL dams, lower fetal body weight and brain weight were only seen in COC offspring. Pharmacological analysis revealed that cocaine was found in fetal plasma at 15 min following intraperitoneal administration on E17, accompanied with elevated concentrations of dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) in fetal brain. We also observed morphological changes in liver and placenta of cocaine-exposed fetuses. The present study indicates that pregnancy cocaine exposure can lead to maternal undernutrition and developmental abnormality of the fetal brain, liver and placenta. It is suggested that the developmental abnormality of the fetuses induced by cocaine is due to the toxicological effect of cocaine but not to maternal undernutrition.
Department of Histoembryology, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China.
Jun
J
Song
Xiao-Wei
XW
Guan
Jia-Qian
JQ
Ren
Wei
W
He
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003042:Cocaine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000097:blood; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D044342:Malnutrition; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D051379:Mice; D009035:Mothers; D010920:Placenta / Q000473:pathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism
D012701:Serotonin; D003042:Cocaine; D004298:Dopamine