Commentary: psychopharmacological assessment in neurobehavioral teratology

Pharmacological agents can be teratogenic but they can also be valuable tools in behavioral teratology. In this paper we describe some considerations we believe to be important in the use of psychopharmacology to assess the neurological underpinnings of behavioral deficits resulting from teratogenic exposure. Pharmacological challenges of animals exposed in utero to teratogenic agents can increase the sensitivity of behavioral tests and the specificity of the assessment of neural dysfunction. We discuss also some general guidelines for the conduct and interpretation of psychopharmacological experiments with teratogen-exposed animals.