Behavioral Effects of Exposure to Halothane during Early Development in the Rat

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Abstract
Pregnant female rats were anesthetized with halothane for 2 h during the middle of either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd trimester (each trimester in the rat is 7 days). Adult male offspring of these exposed mothers and of unexposed controls were tested on a difficult visual discrimination task and assessed for sensitivity to electric footshock (painful stimulus). Measures of activity, water intake and adult body weight were also taken. Although exposure to halothane produced no significant change in the latter 3 measures, offspring of mothers exposed in the 1st and 2nd trimesters took 39 and 41% more error trials, respectively, to learn the maze task. First- and 2nd-trimester-exposed offspring also had 26% lower footshock response thresholds to the highest magnitude of response. Offspring of mothers exposed in the 3rd trimester were not significantly different from controls in any of the measures taken. The impairments seen in the 1st-trimester-exposed (day 3 blastula) offspring may be due to residual halothane or halothane metabolites retained until later in pregnancy. The possible teratogenic effects of exposure to halothane during early development in the rat apparently are maximal during the 2nd trimester when organogenesis is occurring. Exposure to halothane during this period produces learning deficits and changes in footshock sensitivity in adult offspring.

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