Dominant lethal study of ribavirin in male rats.
Ribavirin, a new synthetic antiviral agent, was studied for dominant lethal effects in male CD rats. The drug was administered intraperitoneally at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg/day for 5 days. Males were mated weekly with 8 consecutive batches of female rats. Marginal increase in early foetal death detected in Assessment Weeks 3 and 8 in females mated with the low-dose and high-dose males were not dose-related and were most probably chance events caused by the particularly low vehicle control frequencies for these 2 weeks. Also, the slightly reduced pregnancy proportion among females mated with the high-dose treated males was to a substantial extent the effect of a single male rate which failed to fertilize any females. Ribavirin was, therefore, regarded as being devoid of any mutagenic potential demonstrable by a rat dominant lethal assay.
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics; D005799:Genes, Dominant / Q000187:drug effects*; D005804:Genes, Lethal / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000633:toxicity*; D012263:Ribonucleosides / Q000633:toxicity*
D012263:Ribonucleosides; D012254:Ribavirin