Prenatal exposure to aspartame and seizure susceptibility

Aspartame has been reported to be proconvulsant in rats and mice. To determine whether gestational exposure to aspartame alters susceptibility to flurothyl-induced seizures in offspring, we administered either 500 or 750 mg/kg aspartame to pregnant guinea pigs throughout pregnancy. The offspring were exposed to flurothyl at age 30 days to determine the threshold for clonic and tonic seizures. We also examined offspring from a gavaged control group and a nontreated control group. There were no statistically significant differences in either clonic or tonic seizure thresholds among all groups. Therefore, aspartame administration throughout pregnancy in guinea pigs had no epileptogenic potential in the flurothyl model.