Postnatal development and behavior in offspring of enflurane exposed pregnant rats

Sperm positive (day zero gestation) Fischer 344 rats were exposed to air or to 1500 ppm enflurane by inhalation for 6 hr a day for 21 consecutive days. Enflurane exposed females and their controls were allowed to deliver and raise their offspring. Offspring were studied for evidence of abnormal development as two day, 4, 8, 14 and 80 to 90 week old animals. Thorough gross and histopathological examinations, organ/body weight ratios, clinical chemical and hematological, and overall growth and behavioral examinations were carried out in various aged animals. Sex differences were seen in many parameters as expected, but statistically significant treatment related effects were observed only in the food maze learning behavior and in the pentobarbital sleeping time in the puberty aged male offspring. From our data we can conclude that offspring of pregnant female rats exposed to enflurane at 1500 ppm throughout gestation show minimal, if any, significant clinical or behavioral pathological effects.