Effects of Maternal Alpha Methyldopa Administration on Memory of Rat Offspring during Growing Age

Background: Alpha Methyldopa (AMD) is a well-known treatment for the pregnancy induced hypertension and commonly used in several countries. Indeed the possible effect of AMD on the behavioral activities of offspring, whom are exposed during fetus period, has not been studied. The present study evaluated the possible effect of maternal administration of AMD on the rat offspring memory in the growing age. Methods: This study was carried out in Isfahan Faculty Of Pharmacy in 2015. Pregnant wistar rats were injected 400 mg/kg AMD or saline every day from 14 to 21 pregnancy period, respective to their group (n=8). The spatial memory of male offspring (n=9) was evaluated one, two and three month after the birth in the object recognition task. Also two groups of adult animals (n=7) were daily administered 400 mg/kg AMD or saline one week prior to the memory evaluation. The discrimination (d2), recognition (R) and frequencies of exploration of new object (FB) in the T2 trials are used as the memory indicating factors. Results: Daily single dose of 400 mg/kg AMD to the mothers one week prior to the delivery significantly decreased the d2 index, R index and FB in two and three months offspring rats compare to the their respective control groups. Conclusion: The newborn rats exposed maternally to the AMD during the fetus period show cognitive impairments in the growing age. Indeed the rate of memory enhancement follows a slow pattern compare to the control offspring rats.