Prenatal exposure of diclofenac sodium alters the behavioral development of young Wistar rats

Abstract

Diclofenac sodium (DS), a potent inhibitor of cyclooxygenase, reduces the release of arachidonic acid and formation ofprostaglandins. Being a nonsteroid drug that shows antiinflammatory action, the possible side effects of fetal DS administration gainimportance in public and medical applications. Herein, the effects of DS administration (1 mg/kg) during gestational days 5–20 wereinvestigated on the performance of Wistar rat pups in a variety of behavioral tasks. Four-week-old pups were subjected to sensory motortests, a plus maze, an open field, the Morris water maze, and a radial arm maze. Fetal DS disrupted some sensory motor performances,such as visual placing and climbing in both females and males. In the open field, DS females had a higher level of anxiety and male DSpups habituated to the environment slowly compared to controls. The DS pups showed slower rates of learning, whereas no substantialbetween-group differences were found in the performance of spatial memory compared to both controls. Furthermore, working memorywas negatively affected by fetal DS. In conclusion, it was indicated that DS administration during pregnancy had slight behavioralimpacts with a delay in learning and a defect in the short-term memory in juvenile rats.