Repeated Exposure to High-THC Smoke during Gestation Alters Sex Ratio, Behavior, and Amygdala Gene Expression of Sprague Dawley Rat Offspring.

Because of the legalization of in many jurisdictions and the trend of increasing Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content in products, an urgent need exists to understand the impact of use during pregnancy on fetal neurodevelopment and behavior. To this end, we exposed female Sprague Dawley rats to smoke daily from gestational day 6 to 20 or room air. Maternal reproductive parameters, offspring behavior, and gene expression in the offspring amygdala were assessed. Body temperature was decreased in dams following smoke exposure and more fecal boli were observed in the chambers before and after smoke exposure in dams exposed to smoke. Maternal weight gain, food intake, gestational length, litter number, and litter weight were not altered by exposure to smoke. A significant increase in the male-to-female ratio was noted in the -exposed litters. In adulthood, male and female smoke-exposed offspring explored the inner zone of an open field significantly less than control offspring. Gestational smoke exposure did not affect behavior on the elevated plus maze test or social interaction test in the offspring. offspring were better at visual pairwise discrimination and reversal learning tasks conducted in touchscreen-equipped operant conditioning chambers. Analysis of gene expression in the adult amygdala using RNA sequencing revealed subtle changes in genes related to development, cellular function, and nervous system disease in a subset of the male offspring. These results demonstrate that repeated exposure to high-THC smoke during gestation alters maternal physiological parameters, sex ratio, and anxiety-like behaviors in the adulthood offspring.