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Differential Analysis of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure on Maternal and Pup Related Developmental Variables
Author(s) -
Johnson Marquita,
Jackson Tanise,
Womble Tracy,
Goodman Carl
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.149.6
Subject(s) - offspring , litter , gestation , prenatal exposure , physiology , pregnancy , prenatal cocaine exposure , addiction , drugs of abuse , psychology , medicine , psychiatry , biology , genetics , agronomy
Cocaine is a potent psychostimulant whose use gained popularity within the United States in the late 1970′s and extends well into today. The high abuse rate and addictive nature of cocaine has led to an increase in the amount of infants born to cocaine abusing mothers. However, the full extent of its effects on the development of offspring exposed during gestation has yet to be elucidated. The purpose of this experiment is to evaluate maternal weight, litter size, pup weight, and pup brain weight in Sprague‐Dawley rat pups following prenatal cocaine exposure. Maternal and pup total body weight were significantly decreased following prenatal cocaine exposure. However, differences in litter size and pup brain weights were not observed. Data obtained from this study will lay the foundation for determining cocaine's deleterious effects in offspring as well as facilitate cross‐species comparisons of prenatal cocaine exposure.