Table 2.

Effects of repeated prenatal corticosteroids on the nervous system^a

Species	Drug	Dose (mg/kg)	Timing	Term (days)	Timing/termb	Effects	Ref.
Rhesus monkey	DEXc	4 × 0.125–2.5	E132-133	165	0.80	Decreased number of hippocampal neurons, degeneration	[33,34]
Sheep	BETA	4 × 0.5	E104,111,118,124	147	0.71–0.84	Delay in optic nerve myelination	[118]
	BETA	4 × 0.5	E104,111,118,123		0.71–0.84	Delay in brain myeli nation, sciatic nerve growth, and retinal maturation, decreased fetal brain growth	[35,36,118 119]
Guinea	BETA	4 × 1.0	E40,41,50,51	68	0.59–0.75	Decreased hippocampal MR	[40]
Pig
Rat	BETA	2 × 0.17–0.34	E20	21–22	0.87–0.95	Decreased [3H]thymidine incorporation in hippocampus	[41]
	DEX	7 × 0.1	E15–21	21–22	0.68–0.95	Decreased hippocampal MR and GR	[43]
	BETA	2 × 0.4	E15	21–22	0.68–0.71	Decreased anxiety, Decreased hippocampal GR	Velisek, unpublished
Mouse	BETA	4–8 × 0.1	E13–16	19	0.68–0.84	No effect on behavioral outcome
			E14–15		0.74–0.79		[47]

^aSee also [13].

^bIndicates in the form of a fraction when, during the pregnancy, the corticosteroids were administered if the full term equals 1.00. This fraction makes possible the initial comparison with the human data (Table 1).

^cDEX, dexamethasone; BETA, betamethasone.