Behavioral and developmental effects of prenatal exposure to pentazocine and tripelennamine combinations

Long-Evans, hooded rats were intubated with one of four dose combinations of pentazocine and tripelennamine on Days 7-20 of pregnancy: 0:0 (mg/kg pentazocine:tripelennamine), 20:10, 40:0, or 40:20. An additional group had free access to lab chow and water throughout pregnancy. At birth, reduced body weights were evident in all drug-treated offspring. Growth deficits were not noted at 5, 10, 15 or 20 days of age. Three measures of activity were collected at 18 days of age, however, none of these measures were differentially affected as a function of prenatal treatment. At 85 days of age, offspring were tested in a two-way shuttle avoidance paradigm. Although the number of avoidances was not significantly affected by prenatal treatment, offspring exposed to these drugs in combination had shorter response latencies than controls with increased training and made more intertrial crossing responses. Additional offspring were tested for seizure susceptibility at 100 days of age. None of the parameters of seizure activity were significantly affected by prenatal drug treatment. Prenatal exposure to pentazocine and tripelennamine resulted in prenatal growth deficits, increased activity during the intertrial interval and decreased response latencies in a shuttle avoidance learning task, suggesting that this polydrug combination may be associated with some long-term behavioral teratogenic risks.