Effect of Orally Administered Morphine on the Development of Amniotic and Chorionic Cavities in Pregnant Wistar Rats

Previous studies indicate that morphine consumption during pregnancy can inhibit embryonic development. The present study evaluated the effects of orally administered morphine on the development of embryonic cavities in nine day pregnant rats. Female Wistar rats weighing between 170-200 grams were used in the present study. Experimental group received morphine (0.05 mg/ml of tap water) after one night coupling with male rats for mating. On the 9th day of pregnancy, the pregnant animals were anesthetized with chloroform and the embryos were removed surgically and fixed in 10% formalin for a week. The fixed embryos were processed and stained by H & E method and evaluated. The surface areas of amniotic and chorionic cavities and the whole body surface area of embryos were calculated using MOTIC software. Findings indicated that both chorionic cavity and whole body surface areas of embryos were increased in the experimental group. In addition, surface area of amniotic cavity was reduced in experimental group. This study showed that oral morphine consumption caused a significant decrease in the embryonic amniotic cavity and furthermore, delay in natural embryonic amniotic cavity development can result in abnormal function and growth defect of the kidneys of infants of mothers addicted to morphine.