Early postnatal behavior deficits after maternal carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum during pregnancy

Background: In this study, we tested the hypothesis that maternal pneumoperitoneum produces early postnatal behavior deficits in the offspring. Methods: Time-dated pregnant guinea pigs were exposed to 45 min of carbon dioxide (CO₂) pneumoperitoneum at a pressure of 7 mmHg. There was no manipulation of the control animals. On postnatal days (PND) 10 and 20, the behavior of their offspring was assessed by monitoring the locomotor activity of each of the pups in a 1 × 1 m chamber demarcated into 100 squares. Locomotor data was log-transformed and expressed as mean values (SD). Results: At PND 10, pneumoperitoneum offspring exhibited significantly higher levels of locomotor activity than the offspring of controls (1.81 ± 0.48 vs 1.33 ± 0.78). The pneumoperitoneum pups continued to exhibit hyperactive behavior at PND 20 (1.83 ± 0.72 vs 1.20 ± 0.72). Conclusions: Maternal pneumoperitoneum produces postnatal hyperactivity in guinea pig offspring, suggesting that there may be long-term consequences associated with the physiologic changes produced in the fetus during CO₂ insufflation.