During the past two decades there has been a dramatic increase in the use of drugs by pregnant women. While the target for drugs administered during pregnancy is the mother, the fetus often becomes an unwanted recipient. Unfortunately, use of drugs during pregnancy can cause structural malformations in the fetus. We propose that many commonly used drugs also can produce more subtle biochemical, physiological and behavioral teratogenic defects in the fetus. The effects of these drug teratogens may not be apparent at birth or even in childhood, but may lie dormant or """"""""latent"""""""" until years later. We propose that many drugs may interfere, in utero, with the normal differentiation of the liver and brain, resulting in permanent defects in drug metabolism, disposition and action in the adult. By administering commonly used drugs (i.e., barbiturates, benzodiazepines, analgesics, etc.) to pregnant and lactating rodents we plan to study in their adult offspring the delayed teratogenic effects of the drugs on in vitro hepatic microsomal drug metabolism and drug receptor levels in the brain and to correlate these biochemical findings with n vivo measures of drug action.
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