COMPARATIVE EFFECTS OF PRENATAL COCAINE, ALCOHOL, AND UNDERNUTRITION ON MATERNAL-FETAL TOXICITY AND FETAL BODY-COMPOSITION IN THE SPRAGUE-DAWLEY RAT WITH OBSERVATIONS ON STRAIN-DEPENDENT DIFFERENCES

Pregnant rats received either 20, 30, 40, or 50 mg/kg cocaine HCl (SC) twice daily from gestation days 7 through 19. Pair-fed and untreated control groups and a group receiving 3.0 g/kg alcohol (PO) twice daily served as comparison groups. Females were sacrificed on gestation day 20 and the fetuses examined. Maternal weight gain and food consumptio n showed dose-dependent decreases. Maternal water consumption, by cont rast, was significantly increased in the cocaine-treated animals and m ay reflect a diuretic effect. The maternal mortality rates in Sprague- Dawley rats were less than in two strains of Long-Evans rats, suggesti ng important strain-dependent differences in susceptibility to cocaine toxicity. Cocaine caused a significant dose-dependent decrease in fet al weights. Physical anomalies in the cocaine-exposed and alcohol-expo sed fetuses included occasional hemorrhaging, edema, anophthalmia, and limb reduction. Despite increased maternal water consumption by cocai ne-treated dams, there were no increases in fetal body water content. There were, however, significant decreases in fetal body fat content i n the pair-fed, alcohol-treated, and two highest cocaine-treated group s.