Behavioral alterations of young rats with a history of oversedation at birth

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Abstract
Young rats delivered from heavily sedated mothers (pentobarbital sodium, 60 mg/kg body weight) made significantly more errors in learning a series of reversal problems in a swimming maze than did young rats born without sedation. Maternal oversedation in the guinea pig produced neurological defects in the offspring. This did not occur in rat neonates, unless poorer performance on a agility test with an elevated maze at 30 days of age can be construed as a residual motor defect. There were no significant motor differences upon retest at 70 days of age. Several testing procedures suggested changes in emotionality in the experimental groups of both species. Rat fetuses withstood intrauterine hypoxia, experimentally induced, for a much longer time interval than did the guinea pig fetus near term.

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