RESUMO
Misuse and abuse of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic mefenamic acid among pregnant women in developing coutries constitute a matter of medical concern, mainly as a function of the potentially serious side effects of that drug, notably at the digestive system level. Female rats were treated during the entire pregnancy period (from day 0 up to day 20) with 5, 15, or 45 mg/kg of mefenamic acid (MA) once daily, by gavage. Controls received the drug vehicle. We observed that there was a slight yet significant impairment of maternal body weight gain of the animals treated with the two highest doses of MA. Although the drug was proven to exert deleterious effects on kidney and liver metabolic functions, no gross signs of renal or hepatic toxicity were detected in our animals and in their concepts. The digestive effects would be presumably caused by the inhibitory actions of MA on the luminal fluid movement and are accounted for by the observed body weight loss during pregnancy.