Saccharin- or quinine-induced changes in the rat pups following prolonged ingestion by the dam

Effects presumably induced by a chronic free ingestion of saccharin (0.40 mg/ml) or of quinine (0.25 mg/ml) by female rats during the pregestative, gestative and lactating periods were investigated in the ensuing progeny. Preweaned pups were studied from birth up to weaning (21 days of age) by means of selected gross behavioral tests. The saccharin litters were mainly characterized by a slowering in the body growth evolution. The quinine pups demonstrate several physical anomalies: (1) congenital malformations in 5% of the animals; (2) a significantly reduced birth weight followed by a persistent growth retardation, and (3) a significant delay in the teeth eruption (1.6 and 2.6 days) and in the eye openings (1.6 days). In comparison to the untreated offspring, the saccharin pups showed minor effects whereas quinine-exposed rats were clearly impaired in several features of the postnatal physical development. Therefore, the addition of the sweetener to morphine solution may be convenient for the voluntary oral consumption of the narcotic. Conversely, quinine, used to habituate animals to drinking bitter solutions, has to be rejected in this narcotization procedure as being a harmful agent to the growing rat.