Assessment of memory function of offspring rats born to mothers under treating with buprenorphine during pregnancy and lactation

Authors
Saeed Samarghandian 1
Omid Mehrpour 2
Moshen Foaddini 3
Babak Roshanravan 4
Tahereh Farkhondeh 5
1 Noncommunicable Diseases Research Center, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran
2 Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety, Denver Health, Denver, CO 80204, USA; Student Research Committee, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
3 Cardiovascular Diseases Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
4 Student Research Committee, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
5 Cardiovascular Diseases Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran; Faculty Pharmacy, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Buprenorphine is an opioid drug that is prescribed as an opioid maintenance therapy for addiction during pregnancy and lactation, but its adverse effects on the fetus and infant have not been well studied. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the effect of buprenorphine administration during pregnancy and lactation on the memory function of offspring animals.

Method: 30 female rats in gestation and lactation stages are allocated in the controls, gestation and lactation treat groups. After parturition, dams and their pups were kept in one cage during lactation without BUP administration. After parturition, other groups subcutaneously receiving one dose of vehicle as a control group, and lactation treat group (0.5 and 1 BUP) subcutaneously receiving BUP 0.5 and 1 mg/kg once a day and pups are weaned on postnatal (PN) day 28. Six offspring from each group were randomly selected to evaluate the memory function. The spatial memory function was checked using the Y-maze test.

Results: In this study, there was no significant difference between the groups exposed to buprenorphine in the embryonic and breastfeeding period and the control group in the alternative percentage.

Conclusion: The present study showed that exposure to buprenorphine in the fetal and infant stage has no effect on the spatial memory function, but this study does not confirm the safety of this drug and further studies are needed to show the effect of buprenorphine on cognitive function.
Keywords
Buprenorphine
Memory
fetal period
lactation
memory function test
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