Enduring effects of prenatal diazepam on the behavior, EEG, and brain receptors of the adult cat progeny.

Pregnant cats were treated with a benzodiazepine receptor agonist, diazepam (DZ; Valium; average dose of 0.4 mg/kg/day, i.m.) between day 20 through day 53 of gestation in an attempt to alter the ontogenesis of the benzodiazepine receptors. As tested in fully developed one-year-old progenies, prenatal exposure to DZ resulted in a behavioral syndrome of hyperactivity, aggressiveness, behavioral signs of chronic anxiety, inability to habituate to novel environment, suppression or absence of the reward-induced alpha-like (7 to 11 Hz) electroencephalographic patterns during operantly conditioned behavior (bar pressing for 1 ml of milk reward), and deficits in the numbers of benzodiazepine receptors in the hypothalamus (-47%), fronto-orbital cortex (-33%) and postcentral cortex (-19%).