BACKGROUND Previous studies suggest that maternal antibiotics exposure during pregnancy may increase the risk of childhood asthma, but the results were inconsistent. Furthermore, most studies did not examine periconception period as an exposure window. We aim to assess the associations between maternal exposure to specific antibiotics before and during pregnancy and the risk of asthma in early ...

The developmental impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and other antidepressant treatments during gestation postpartum on anxiety depression behaviors in offspring is unclear. This review focuses how perinatal exposure to SSRI may have long term consequences for these affective early childhood beyond. Outcomes vary consideration given methodological factors related affects de...

The pre- and postnatal developmental course of cerebral ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) has been studied in infant rats after treatment of pregnant dams with cocaine. Levels of cocaine attained in brains and serum of embryos were not initially increased over corresponding maternal values, but were more persistent. However, cocaine was not longer detectable in these tissues 4 days after administra...

Recent studies indicate that immune development in humans and other species may be altered after perinatal exposure to immunotoxic environmental contaminants. However, limited information is available regarding appropriate tests that may adequately detect developmental immunotoxic compounds. Experiments in which pregnant laboratory rodents were exposed to a variety of immunotoxic environmental ...

Timed-pregnant Fischer 344 rats and New Zealand White rabbits were exposed to ethylene glycol monobutyl ether vapors by inhalation on gestational days 6 through 15 (rats) or 6 through 18 (rabbits) at concentrations of 0, 25, 50, 100 or 200 ppm. The animals were sacrificed on gestational day 21 (rats) or 29 (rabbits). In rats, exposure to 200 or 100 ppm resulted in maternal toxicity (clinical si...

The devastating consequences of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) are well established, and, as a leading cause of intellectual disabilities (Pulsifer 1996), FAS has significant societal and public health implications. Importantly, FAS is associated with a broad range of neurobehavioral deficits (for more information, see the article by Coles, pp. 42-50 in this issue). However, FAS is only the most ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between head circumference, birth weight, and cocaine dose in healthy term and near-term newborns exposed to cocaine in utero. METHODS We used radioimmune assay (RIAH) of cocaine metabolite in maternal hair to quantify third trimester cocaine exposure in 240 healthy newborn infants (gestational age: >36 weeks). Cocaine exposure was categorized into 3 lev...

The reproductive system is extremely susceptible to environmental insults, for example exogenous steroids during gestational development and differentiation. Experimental induction of androgen excess during prenatal life in female animal models reprograms their reproductive physiology, however the fetal programming of the male reproductive system by androgen excess has not been well studied. We...

Introduction: Gestational stress can lead to cerebral functional disorders, such as epilepsy, probably due to the disturbance in the cerebral maturation and causing abnormal neuronal correlations. In the present study, effect of gestational Predator Stress on the neonatal epileptic behaviors was investigated in rats. Methods: Female rats (200 ± 20 g) were divided into two groups intact pregn...