Rüedi-Bettschen Daniela, Platt Donna M
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216, USA.
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216, USA; Department of Neurobiology and Anatomical Sciences, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216, USA.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2017 Aug 1;177:171-177. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.03.042. Epub 2017 Jun 1.
Methamphetamine (METH) abuse by pregnant women is a commonly observed phenomenon. While the harmful effects of METH are well described for adults, there is only limited knowledge of the effects of METH use during pregnancy on the developing child. In the present study, we investigated how intraveneous (iv) METH self-administration throughout pregnancy affected rat dams and their offspring through weaning, compared to controls.
Female rats (n=16) were trained to self-administer METH iv; every drug infusion by a dam also resulted in a saline injection to a yoked control (n=16). When stable levels of self-administration were reached, all females were mated. Daily, 2-h self-administration sessions continued until litters were born. General health and weight was assessed daily in dams and pups. In addition, pups were evaluated for achievement of age-appropriate developmental milestones (i.e., righting reflex, negative geotaxis, pinna detachment, fur appearance, incisor eruption and eye opening).
Dams self-administered 2-3mg/kg/day METH throughout gestation without consequence to dam health or weight gain during pregnancy. All females produced viable litters, and litter size and composition did not differ between saline and METH dams. Similarly, maternal pup-directed behavior was not affected by prior METH self-administration. However, despite a lack of weight difference in pups, METH-exposed pups were significantly delayed in reaching all assessed developmental milestones compared to controls.
These results indicate that in utero exposure to moderate METH doses can profoundly and adversely affect offspring development, suggesting that even recreational METH use during pregnancy has potential for harm.
孕妇滥用甲基苯丙胺（冰毒）是一种常见现象。虽然冰毒对成年人的有害影响已有充分描述，但关于孕期使用冰毒对发育中胎儿的影响却知之甚少。在本研究中，我们调查了与对照组相比，孕期静脉注射冰毒自我给药对大鼠母鼠及其后代直至断奶的影响。
对16只雌性大鼠进行训练，使其静脉注射冰毒自我给药；每只母鼠注射一次药物，同时也给一只配对对照大鼠注射一次生理盐水（共16只）。当自我给药水平达到稳定后，所有雌性大鼠进行交配。每天进行2小时的自我给药，直至产仔。每天评估母鼠和幼崽的总体健康状况和体重。此外，评估幼崽是否达到适合年龄的发育里程碑（即翻正反射、负趋地性、耳廓分离、被毛出现、门齿萌出和睁眼）。
母鼠在整个妊娠期静脉注射2-3mg/kg/天的冰毒，对母鼠健康或孕期体重增加没有影响。所有雌性大鼠均产下存活的幼崽，生理盐水组和冰毒组的窝仔数和组成没有差异。同样，母鼠对幼崽的行为也不受先前冰毒自我给药的影响。然而，尽管幼崽体重没有差异，但与对照组相比，接触冰毒的幼崽在达到所有评估的发育里程碑方面明显延迟。
这些结果表明，子宫内暴露于中等剂量的冰毒会对后代发育产生深远的负面影响，这表明孕期即使是娱乐性使用冰毒也有潜在危害。
