Effects of prenatal administration of psychotropic drugs on behavior of developing rats

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Abstract
The effects of prenatal administration of 1 mg/kg d‐amphetamine sulfate or 3 mg/kg chlorpromazine HCl to rats from days 12 through 15 of gestation inclusive were studied on behavior of the offspring in the open field, mazes, and operant conditioning. The locomotor activity scores of rats whose mothers received chlorpromazine were significantly lower than those of controls on day 13 after birth but reached a level significantly higher than that of controls on day 18. Offspring of amphetaminetreated mothers had relatively low activity scores early in testing and were delayed in reaching adult activity levels. Although in the mother‐goal‐maze offspring of both chlorpromazine‐ and amphetamine‐treated mothers generally had shorter latencies than controls, rats whose mothers received chlorpromazine made significantly more errors. These animals also took significantly longer to acquire the bar‐press response. No differences among groups were observed in learning or reversal in the T‐maze or in performance or extinction of the operant response.