Prenatal cocaine produces dose-dependent suppression of prolactin and growth hormone in neonatal rats.

Pregnant Long-Evans hooded rats were dosed with 5, 10, 20, or 40 mg/kg/d cocaine from GD7 through GD20; pairfed/vehicle-injected, and uninjected controls were included. At birth, representative pups from each litter were killed by decapitation and serum assayed for prolactin and growth hormone via radioimmunoassay. Prolactin levels were significantly reduced on P1 in offspring which had been dosed prenatally with 20 or 40 mg/kg/d, while growth hormone levels were significantly lower than control levels in the 5 and 10 mg/kg/d animals. Pairfed/vehicle controls did not differ from uninjected controls on levels of either hormone. These endocrine changes associated with cocaine dosing may affect subsequent development of the organism.