An animal study raises additional concerns about the use of dexamethasone on prematu...( prolonged tapering course of neonatal ...)

prolonged, tapering course of neonatal dex administration. Unlike other studies, where single doses of dex were given at particular postnatal ages, the objectives of this study were twofold: (1) to provide dex during a postnatal age in the rat that corresponds to the neurodevelopmental time point at which human premature infants receive prolonged dex therapy and (2) to provide dex in tapering doses (between third and sixth day after birth). The specific goal of the model was to more closely mimic glucocorticoid protocols provided in the neonatal intensive care setting where six-week courses are still administered.

The authors of "Effects of Tapering Neonatal Dexamethasone On Rat Growth, Neurodevelopment, and Stress Response," are Shelly B. Flagel, Delia M. Vazquez, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and Charles R. Neal, Jr., all from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Their findings are published in the January 2002 edition of American Journal of Physiology -- Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology.

Methodology
Adult Sprague-Dawley rats were housed in our animal unit and maintained in accordance with federal guidelines on the care and use of laboratory animals. All animals were kept under constant temperature and light-dark cycle, and they were provided with food and water, as desired. With the use of a trio mating system (2 females: 1 male), 20 female rats were mated. Females were then housed in pairs until estimated gestational day 18, at which point they were housed individually.

The day of birth was designated PD 1. On PD 2, each litter was sexed and culled to 12 pups (six males, six females) to ensure equality in nutrition and maternal care within litters. Pups were separated into three treatment groups on PD 3, with each group represented within one litter, to control for variations in maternal behavior. On PD 8, a male and a female pup from each treatment group were eliminated in order to reduce the litter size
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Contact: Donna Krupa
djkrupa1@aol.com
703-527-7357
American Physiological Society
12-Feb-2002

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