Objective: This study investigates the effects of prenatal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure on the maternal behavior of pregnant rats and the physical development and sexual behavior of their male offspring in adulthood. Methods: For two experiments, pregnant rats were injected with LPS (250 μg/kg, i.p.) on gestation day (GD) 21. In the first experiment, the maternal behavior (postnatal day, PND, 6) and the dam’s open-field general activity (PND7) were evaluated. In the second experiment, the maternal pre- and postnatal parameters, the pup’s development, the offspring’s sexual behavior in adulthood, and the pup’s organ weights were assessed. Results: Compared to the control group, the LPS-treated dams presented reduced maternal behavior, decreased general activity, a smaller body weight difference between GD21 and PND1, a greater number of perinatal deaths, and smaller litters. For the male pups, LPS treatment resulted in a decreased body weight on PND2, whereas the anogenital distance and the day of testis descent were not modified. The male sexual behavior was impaired by prenatal LPS. Particularly the number of ejaculating animals was reduced. The testis weight was also lower in the prenatally LPS-treated rats than in the control rats. Conclusion: We propose that prenatal LPS exposure on GD21 acts as an imprinting factor that interferes with the programming of brain sexual determination in offspring.

This paper is focused in some aspects of maternal exposure to misoprostol during perinatal period, and the abortive and teratogenesis effects on the fetus. The causes of malformations were revised, taking into account chemical, physical and environmental factors as well as the interaction between them. There are evidences that the practice of abortion tripled in Southern and Northeastern Brazil in 15 years, and one of the most frequent forms of abortion is through the use of misoprostol. In Brazil, 1991, 288,700 women were hospitalized as a consequence of complications induced by abortion attempt with this medicine. This fact resulted in the ban of misoprostol across our country, by Decree 344/98 determined by the Health Ministry. The use of misoprostol requires special control and it is allowed only in hospitals, with supervision of the municipal health surveillance. Among the more severe problems affecting the non-aborted child is the injury on the central nervous system, which frequently results in the Moebius syndrome. This is a congenital and non-progressive paralysis of the VI and VII cranial nerves, frequently bilateral, which produces a unexpressive facial appearance and convergent Strabismus. Even banned in our country, abortion is illegally practiced, being deprived of proper knowledge about misoprostol teratogenic effects on the fetus as well as the risks involving mothers. Este trabalho enfoca aspectos relativos à exposição ao misoprostol no período perinatal como abortificante e agente teratogênico, assim como as causas das malformações, considerando-se fatores químicos, físicos e ambientais. A prática do aborto triplicou nas regiões Sul e Nordeste em 15 anos, sendo que entre os métodos mais freqüentes está o uso do medicamento com o princípio ativo do misoprostol. Em 1991 no Brasil, 288.700 mulheres foram socorridas em hospitais devido a complicações por indução de aborto com este medicamento. Isso resultou na proibição do misoprostol em todo país por determinação da portaria 344/98 do Ministério da Saúde, que exige um controle especial, onde sua utilização é permitida apenas em hospitais e com supervisão da vigilância sanitária municipal. Um dos problemas mais graves que a criança não abortada apresenta é uma injúria em seu sistema nervoso central desenvolvendo a Síndrome de Moebius. Esta é uma paralisia congênita e não progressiva do VI e do VII nervos cranianos, freqüentemente bilateral, que produz uma aparência facial pouco expressiva e estrabismo divergente. Neste sentido, mesmo sendo proibido em nosso país, o aborto induzido por misoprostol é praticado ilegalmente e sem uma verdadeira instrução da paciente sobre os efeitos teratogênicos do mesmo para ela e para seu bebê.

In adult female mammals, reproductive experience (e.g., mating, pregnancy, parturition, and lactation) has long-term behavioral, endocrine, and neurochemical implications. This experience causes behavioral and neurochemical changes that involve several brain areas important for the expression of maternal behavior. The present study showed that lactating rats exhibited reduced general locomotor activity in the open field test compared with virgin animals. Our hypothesis was that nucleus accumbens dopamine, which regulates maternal behavior in lactating rats, is also involved in the low expression of maternal locomotion in the open field test observed during the early stages of lactation and reflects decreased motivation.Initially we compared open field behavior in virgin and lactating rats to confirm our previous data. Thus, the in vivo release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens in virgin and lactating female rats was measured. Perfusate concentrations of extracellular dopamine and its metabolites showed no differences between virgin and lactating rats. Thus, the reduced general activity observed in lactating rats might not be related to intra-nucleus accumbens dopamine control.

No abstract