Effect of Seizure During Pregnancy on Cognitive and Motor Coordination Performances in Adult Male Offspring of Female Mice: The Role of Serum Corticosterone Level

Human and animal models have demonstrated that seizure during pregnancy can cause cognitive and motor impairments in the offspring. However, the mechanisms of this effect need to be elucidated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of seizure during pregnancy on cognitive and motor performances of the adult male offspring with an emphasis on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis.

Adult female ICR mice were randomly separated into two groups that received intraperitoneally either saline or pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) for 30 days. Then the fully kindled mice and control animals were allowed to mate. PTZ administration during pregnancy was continued until delivery, while the control group received saline at the same time. The cognitive performance and period motor coordination of adult male offspring were evaluated by novel object recognition task and raised-beam task, respectively. 

We found that maternal seizure during pregnancy leads to a significant cognitive and motor coordination deficiency as well as an enhancement of corticosterone serum levels in adult male offspring. 

These findings suggest that seizure in pregnancy leads to cognitive deficiency and motor coordination impairment in adult male offspring, possibly through increased corticosterone serum levels.