Reproductive performance and embriotoxicity of rats exposed to carbamazepine

Abstract

To study the possible effects of carbamazepine in rats during pregnancy and fetuses' physical development, carbamazepine solubilized in propilenglycol was orally administered (20 and 40 mg/kg) to the female rats from the 2nd to the 19th days of pregnancy. Propilenglycol was administered to the control group. The animals were sacrificed on the 20th day, when 50% of the offspring were fixed in Bouin's solution and the remaining 50% were submitted to diaphanization. The carbamazepine administration caused reduction on weight gain of pregnant rats and did not damage the females' reproductive performance. In the fetuses' physical development, it was observed a flattening on the skull soft tissues and bones; delay in the skull bone development; cartilage calcification increase between hip and femur and reduction in the number of the sternum ossifications. Although carbamazepine has not caused general changes over female rats' reproductive performance, it produced significant alterations in the development of the fetuses' skeletal parameters.