Studies on reproduction in rats with pirmenol, an antiarrhythmic agent

Fertility and perinatal-postnatal studies were performed in CD rats given pirmenol, an antiarrhythmic agent, at dosages of 0, 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg. The drug was administered orally as diet admixtures in all studies. In the male fertility study, mature male rats were treated for 61 days prior to mating with virgin, untreated female rats. In the female fertility study, mature virgin female rats were treated for 15 days prior to mating with untreated partners with treatment continuing throughout mating, pregnancy, parturition, and weaning of the litters. In both studies, one-half of the dams in each group were killed on Day 21 of pregnancy and the remaining dams were allowed to deliver and wean their offspring and postnatal development was monitored. At weaning, two males and two females were arbitrarily selected from each litter, allowed to mature on unmedicated diet, and then mated within treatment groups to produce the F2 generation. In the perinatal-postnatal study, pregnant females were treated continuously from Day 15 of pregnancy until weaning of the litters on Day 21 postbirth. No adverse effects on fertility, general reproductive parameters, or offspring survival and development were evident at doses employed in these studies.