Prenatal diazepam exposure in rats: long-lasting functional changes in the offspring.

Adult (90-100 day-old) rats exposed prenatally (13-20 days of gestation) to diazepam (DZ) at 1.0, 2.5, or 10 mg/kg/day, were examined for functional deficits. Tests were designed to (1) correlate with known neural alterations induced by the prenatal exposure, or (2) to address the problem of developing tests of functional teratology in animals which have relevance to complex human functions. The careful selection of functional tests has disclosed several effects of prenatal DZ exposure on adult rat progeny. The dose-effect relationship was found to vary with the different tests, indicating that a thorough evaluation of the consequences of prenatal drug exposure necessitates utilization of several functional approaches. The results of these studies on the effects of prenatal exposure to DZ support the hypothesis that in utero exposure to drugs targeted for action on the central nervous system can induce long-lasting alterations on the neural substrates of behavior on the offspring with resulting functional consequences.