The impact of perinatal fluoxetine exposure on rat pregnant females and their offspring

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Zoology department, faculty of science, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

2 medical histology and cell biology, Faculty of medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

3 Embryology and Comparative anatomy, Zoology Department, faculty of science, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

4 zoology department, faculty of science, Zagazig university, Zagazig, Egypt

Abstract

Pregnancy and after childbirth are the most critical periods to develop depression illness because of hormonal fluctuations. Fluoxetine (FLX) is one of the most regularly prescribed antidepressants, with 1.9–2.1 percent of pregnant women using FLX at some stage. In the current study, we aimed to study clinical signs of toxicity for both mothers and offspring after exposure to FLX during pregnancy and lactation. For adult female albino rats, we also investigated the hepatotoxicity that FLX injection caused. We found that perinatal FLX exposure increases the mortality rate for both pregnant rats and their offspring. FLX exposure also led to an adverse effect on embryo development as it increased embryo resorption. Additionally, cannibalism behavior in rats exposed to FLX appeared against their offspring. On the other hand, we did not find a significant difference in vaginal bleeding for pregnant rats after exposed to prenatal FLX. Hepatic damage also was discovered by histopathological assessment of the liver in female adult rats following FLX exposure. Our results show perinatal FLX treatment at the dose 25mg/kg/day in the pregnant and postpartum mothers led to clinical signs of toxicity for both dam and offspring.

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