| Fifty-three litters of Sprague-Dawley rat pups were randomly assigned to five groups: (1) saline, (n=10), (2) physiologic dose (0.5mg/kg/day) Sigma terbutaline, (n=11), (3) pharmacologic dose (10mg/kg/day) Sigma terbutaline, (n=10), (4) physiologic dose medicinal terbutaline (American Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. (APP); 0.5 mg/kg/day), (n=11), and (5) pharmacologic medicinal terbutaline (APP; 10 mg/kg/day), (n=11). On postnatal days (PND) 2-5 or 11-14, daily injections were administered. Half the pups were sacrificed on PND 6 or 15 and brains examined. Neurobehavioral testing at PND 30-35 or 50-55 was performed on remaining rats.; No differences in brain weight, corpus callosum thickness, number of purkinje cells, or cerebellar external granular cell layer cellularity were demonstrated in treatment groups compared to controls. Neurobehavioral testing failed to detect adverse effects of clinically utilized terbutaline. We conclude that terbutaline is not neurotoxic in the developing rat brain. |
