Prenatal cocaine: maternal toxicity, fetal effects and locomotor activity in rat offspring.

Either 30 or 60 mg/kg of cocaine hydrochloride (COC) was administered by gastric intubation to gravid rats during the last two weeks of gestation. A pair-fed control group was administered the vehicle alone and allowed to eat and drink only the amount consumed by the 60 mg/kg group on the same gestation days. A nontreated control group was left undisturbed during pregnancy. All treated and control litters were fostered at birth to untreated dams. None of the treated dams died nor were any gross signs of cocaine toxicity observed. Among the COC-60 dams, there was a reduction in food and water intake at the beginning of treatment; whereas water intake returned to control levels, food intake remained approximately 12% below that of the controls. Compared to the nontreated dams, both COC-treated and pair-fed dams gained significantly less body weight from conception to term. Cocaine had no effect on offspring mortality, birthweight or rate of postnatal growth. Measurement of the ontogeny of motor activity during the first month of life revealed a similar activity pattern for all the groups except for the COC-60 group which showed heightened activity on Days 20 and 23. These findings are discussed in relation to other animal and clinical reports of prenatal cocaine exposure.