Prenatal toxicity of simultaneously administered ethanol and pentobarbital in the rat

The use and abuse of drugs has reached epidemic proportions among individuals of child-bearing age. The frequency with which alcohol and pentobarbital are used in our society increases the probability that they will be taken simultaneously. Experiments were designed to investigate the prenatal toxicity of alcoho and pentobarbital interaction in the rat. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were treated intraperitoneally with one of three doses of ethanol (0.56 to 1.4 g/kg) in combination with 5, 15, or 25 mg/kg pentobarbital on days 9 through 12 of gestation. Maternal and fetal toxicities were evaluated and compared with the results of previous studies using the same doses of ethanol and pentobarbital. In pregnant rats treated with combinations of the two drugs, there was no consistent pattern of response. With respect to the offspring, there was no evidence that combinations of ethanol and pentobarbital, at the dose levels used here, had any more deleterious effect on fetal development than either drug acting independently.