Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Feb;32(3):461-471.
doi: 10.1080/14767058.2017.1383378. Epub 2017 Oct 5.

The neurotoxic effects of prenatal gabapentin and oxcarbazepine exposure on newborn rats

Zuleyha Erisgin  1 , Bulent Ayas  2 , Jens R Nyengaard  3 , N Ercument Beyhun  4 , Yuksel Terzi  5
Affiliations

The neurotoxic effects of prenatal gabapentin and oxcarbazepine exposure on newborn rats

Zuleyha Erisgin et al. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Aim: Teratogenicity is a problematic issue for pregnant women because of X-ray radiation, drugs, and genetic and unknown variables. First-generation antiepileptic drugs (AED) like valproic acid are well-known teratogens for developing fetuses. However, their usage is necessary in order to prevent maternal seizures. The underlying mechanism of birth defects associated with AED exposure remains unclear and information about the neurotoxic effects of prenatal exposure to AED is still limited. Oxcarbazepine (OXC) and gabapentin (GBP) are second-generation AED. It still remains unclear how much these drugs are safe during pregnancy. This study aimed to investigate whether any neurotoxic effect of OXC and GBP in utero exposure on the developing brain.

Methods: Eighteen pregnant Wistar albino rats were divided into six groups. The first group was exposed to OXC at 100 mg/kg/day, the second to GBP at 50 mg/kg/day, and third to saline (0.9% NaCl) at 1.5 ml/day between the first and the fifth days of gestation. The same procedure was applied at the same dosages between the 6th and the 15th days of gestation for the 2nd three groups. Five female offspring (total n = 30, 45 days old) were taken from each group and stereological methods were applied in order to analyze the total and dopaminergic neuron number of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc).

Conclusion: The result is that the OXC and GBP exposure at different gestational periods may not give rise to congenital malformation and it appears that the GBP exposure during the organogenesis period proliferatively affects the total number of neurons.

Keywords: Antiepileptic drugs; congenital malformation; epilepsy; neuron number; pregnancy; stereology; substantia nigra.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

LinkOut - more resources