1 Inhalation of low concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) by pregnant rats (75 and 150 p.p.m. from day 0 to day 20 of gestation) leads to changes in mesolimbic dopaminergic transmission associated with an impairment of sexual behaviour in male o spring. 2 Eighty day old males exposed in utero to CO (150 p.p.m.) exhibited a signi®cant increase in mount/ intromission latency as well as a signi®cant decrease in mount/intromission frequency. A signi®cant decrease in ejaculation frequency was also found in CO (150 p.p.m.)-exposed animals. 3 The acute administration of amphetamine, at a dose (0.5 mg kg 71 s.c.) stimulating copulatory activity in control rats, failed to reduce mount/intromission latency and did not increase mount frequency in 80-day o spring exposed to CO (150 p.p.m.) during gestation. 4 These behavioural alterations were paralleled by neurochemical changes (in vivo microdialysis) showing that prenatal CO exposure, at concentrations (150 p.p.m.) that did not a ect basal extracellular levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, blunted the amphetamine (0.5 mg kg 71 s.c.)-induced increase in dopamine release in 80-day old male rats. 5 No signi®cant changes in either behavioural or neurochemical parameters were observed in 10-month old rats exposed prenatally to CO. 6 Since the alterations in sexual behaviour and dopaminergic transmission have been produced by prenatal exposure to CO levels resulting in maternal blood carboxyhaemoglobin concentrations equivalent to those maintained by human cigarette smokers, the present data further point out the large risk that the smoking mother poses for her o spring.

Pancreatic ascites is a rare complication of chronic pancreatitis, whose treatment continues to represent a difficult clinical problem. In this report we describe a case of a patient with chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic ascites who was successfully treated with somatostatin given by continuous intravenous infusion of 1.5 pg/kg/h for 2 weeks.

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We studied the effect of a low dose of neurotensin (2.5 pmol/kg/min) on meal- and cerulein-induced gallbladder contraction in 11 healthy volunteers by means of real-time ultrasonography. Ingestion of a meal caused a significant reduction in gallbladder volume which reached a maximum of 57 ± 2% of the basal value at 60 min after the meal. The infusion of neurotensin caused a slight but not significant attenuation of the contractile response of the gallbladder to the meal (maximal reduction of 49 ± 6%). Increasing doses of cerulein (10, 20 and 40 ng/kg/h, for 30 min at each dose) caused progressive reductions in gallbladder volume of 18 ± 5, 72 ± 5 and 89 ± 4% with the three respective doses of cerulein used. The simultaneous administration of neurotensin did not significantly modify the gallbladder response to cerulein. The results indicate that neurotensin, at a dose of 2.5 pmol/kg/min, does not influence the gallbladder contraction stimulated by food or cerulein.