Toxicological assessments of rats exposed prenatally to inhaled vapors of gasoline and gasoline–ethanol blends

Prenatal exposure to vapors of gasoline–ethanol blends causes few cognitive deficits in adult rats

“…As with inhaled ethanol in a previous study , no differences in body weight gain were observed in the pregnant dams, despite lower food consumption in the 9000-ppm dams in the E0 and E85 experiments (but not in the E15 experiment) (Bushnell et al, 2015). The equivalent weight gain despite reduced food consumption suggests either that some caloric benefit was gained from the inhaled fuel vapors or that the vapors reduced the number of calories burned by the animals (Bushnell et al, 2015).…”

“…The litters from exposed rats in all treatment groups did not differ in number as a function of blend concentration or sex (Bushnell et al, 2015). Pups from exposed rats also grew at the same rate as controls, and showed no significant, concentration-related alterations in functional measures, nor were there many significant changes in immune function, cardiovascular function, or other endpoints (Bushnell et al, 2015).…”

“…Details on methods of collecting the vapor condensates and assaying the VC constituents by gas chromatography (GC) are reported in a companion paper (Bushnell et al, 2015).…”

“…Each concentration (0, 3000, 6000, or 9000 ppm) of each fuel VC was generated in 1 of 4 Hazelton 1000 chambers and vapor concentrations were monitored as described in Bushnell et al (2015). Exposures were conducted from GD 9 through 20, beginning at~7 am and lasting 6.5 h per day.…”

“…These animals had previously been evaluated using functional observational battery and motor activity tests (Bushnell et al, 2015). Water maze testing began on PND 62 (E15) or 69 (E85).…”