[Prenatal exposure to sodium oxybutyrate prevents a disorder of general behavior, learning and memory in the progeny of rats subjected to chronic hemic hypoxia].

The hemic hypoxia caused by the methemoglobin-inducing agent sodium nitrite (40 mg/kg intraperitoneally at days 10 to 19 of pregnancy) evokes a decrease in the birth and survival rates of pups, delayed disorders of motor coordination. Prenatal hypoxia was demonstrated to be able to disturb the habituation in the open field, learning and memory in passive avoidance paradigm, cognitive ability in the plus-maze extrapolative water escape test. The treatment of pregnant rats with sodium hydroxybutyrate (150 mg/kg orally 1-3 times daily at days 12 to 19 of pregnancy) normalizes offsprings' birth and survival rates, prevents the above-mentioned neuropsychological disturbances and improves learning in the active avoidance test.