Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of chronic prenatal exposure to a therapeutic dose of carbamazepine on the behavior of mice offspring in a randomized, placebo-controlled manner.
Study design: Twenty-eight C3H/He mice were assigned randomly to treatment groups that were given food that contained either carbamazepine (25 mg in 10 g food) or a placebo for 1 week before mating and throughout gestation. Adult offspring from eight litters of each group were evaluated for standard tasks for motor, arousal/motivation, anxiety, and cognition. Statistical comparisons included analysis of variance and the Fisher exact test.
Results: Compared with the placebo group, there were no significant differences among the carbamazepine offspring in the duration of gestation, litter size, and birth weights. Fewer locomotor chamber movements were recorded in the carbamazepine group than in the placebo-exposed group at postnatal day 21 (469 vs 555 counts for 60 minutes, P<.03) and as adults (510 vs 688 counts for 60 minutes, P<.03) Coordination, balance, and exploratory behavior did not differ between exposure groups. A startle response from auditory arousal was decreased in carbamazepine-exposed adults (1.4% vs 21.9%, P<.03). Performances on anxiety/motivation tasks and on learning/memory tasks revealed no significant differences between exposure groups.
Conclusion: Although prenatal exposure induced subtle arousal effects and slower locomotor activity, carbamazepine did not have an impact on coordination, cognition, or responses to anxiety-provoking conditions. Correlation in humans is recommended.