Perinatal bromopride treatment: effects on motor activity and stereotyped behavior of offspring.

Effects of different perinatal treatments with bromopride (BRO), a dopaminergic blocking agent, on open-field behavior and apomorphine (APO)-induced stereotypy were examined just after weaning and in adult Wistar rats. Weanling rats of mothers treated with BRO during lactation had greater general activity (24-48 hours after weaning) and higher stereotypy scores (96 hours after weaning) than pups from vehicle-treated control mothers. These results were not observed in rats of mothers treated with BRO only during pregnancy (BV group), nor was it as evident in animals of mothers treated during pregnancy and lactation (BB group). When adults, females had normal estrous cycles and the characteristic higher ambulation than males. However, males from groups BV and BB had lower ambulation frequencies than control males (VV group). The possibility that BRO interacts with the development of dopamine mechanisms in the brain at different sensitive developmental periods, and thereby influences later behavior, is discussed.