PERINATAL BUPIVACAINE AND INFANT BEHAVIOR IN RHESUS-MONKEYS

To assess the effect of perinatal epidural bupivacaine analgesia on in fant behavioral development, bupivacaine (1.2 mg/kg) was administered to term-pregnant rhesus monkeys (treated, n = 11, procedural controls, n = 8) and infant behavior was evaluated for 1 year using a test batt ery including infant neurobehavioral tests, observation of spontaneous behavior, and structured cognitive testing. No adverse effects of bup ivacaine were detected for neonatal neurobehavior, early cognitive abi lities, or performance of cognitive tasks by older infants. Bupivacain e infants directed more, shorter fixations at visual stimuli during vi sual novelty preference testing. Observation of behavior maturation pa tterns showed that the increase in manipulatory activity that normally occurs at 2 months of age was delayed in bupivacaine infants, and the increase in motor disturbance behaviors that normally occurs at 10 mo nths of age was prolonged. These results are interpreted in terms of l ife-history and brain maturation landmarks that appear at these ages. The data suggest that epidural bupivacaine does not cause neonatal abn ormalities or specific cognitive deficits but can alter the normal cou rse of behavioral development. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.