Analysis of fetal development in rats following maternal exposure to subanesthetic concentrations of halothane

Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 50, 100, 200, 800, 1600, or 3200 ppm halothane on days 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of pregnancy. This did not result in increased fetal death and resorption rates, growth retardation, or an increased frequency of skeletal anomalies. When rats were exposed to 1600 ppm halothane on days 1–21 of pregnancy fetal growth was retarded but the differences in the number of centers of ossification in the skeletons were not significant. Skeletal anomalies including supplementary ribs, defective or delayed ossification of sternebrae, and missing centers of ossification in the lower parts of the limbs were seen in some fetuses in all groups but the frequency was not treatment related. Our results indicate that in Sprague-Dawley rats halothane is not teratogenic or otherwise fetotoxic at subanesthetic concentrations.

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