Postnatal effects in rats of prenatal treatment with hydroxyurea

Abstract

Abstract The offspring of pregnant female rats treated with 375 or 500 mg/kg hydroxyurea (HU) on day 12 of gestation were tested for exploratory activity and maze‐learning ability beginning at 30 days of age. Experimental subjects were retarded in growth and had locomotor abnormalities, tail defects not noted at birth, and impaired maze learning. Thus, HU at doses that produce only minor malformations in 20‐day fetuses alters the postnatal functional capacity of rats treated prenatally.