DEVELOPMENT OF THE FETAL RAT FOLLOWING ELECTROCAUTERY OF THE BRAIN

Abstract

90 rat fetuses were recovered alive at term following (transuteral) cautery of the brain, performed on the 16th-17th day of gestation. The rat fetus may survive throughout the last quarter of the gestation period after destruction of from 10 to 75% of the brain tissue, involving levels below the pons. Muscular responses in such animals were sluggish but otherwise normal. The exptl. fetuses averaged 12 and 9% below their litter-controls in weight and crown-rump length, but these differences were not statistically significant. Neurological examination revealed that different degrees of fetal brain destruction above the level of the optic chiasma were not correlated with muscular activity exhibited at term or with the weight discrepancies noted above.