title: Developmental stage specificity and dose response of secalonic acid D-induced cleft palate and the absence of cytotoxicity in developing mouse palate.
abstract: Incidence of cleft palate (CP) in full-term mouse fetuses was evaluated following administration of 25 mg/kg of the mycotoxin, secalonic acid D (SAD), to groups of female mice on each of Days 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15 of pregnancy. Although the highest numerical incidence (45.3%) of cleft palate resulted following SAD exposure on Day 12 of pregnancy, and the response tapered off to 16.9% on Day 10 and 0% on Day 15 of pregnancy, similar responses were produced also following exposures on Days 11 (38.4%) and 13 (39.9%) of pregnancy. Maternal exposure to doses of 0, 15, 20, 25, or 30 mg/kg of SAD, given on Day 12 of pregnancy indicated that although fetuses in the 30-mg/kg group had the highest incidence (51.9%) of CP, the effect was associated with increased resorptions and decreased fetal weights. The 25-mg/kg dose was optimally teratogenic (45.3% cleft palate) and maximally tolerable with neither an increase in resorptions nor a decrease in fetal body weights. Cytotoxicity of the optimally teratogenic dose of SAD (25 mg/kg given ip) on Day 12 of pregnancy was evaluated as a possible mechanism of SAD teratogenicity using indices such as mesenchymal cell density, mitotic index, and the uptake of [3H]thymidine in the developing palatal shelves. No evidence of SAD cytotoxicity was obtained in palatal shelves indicating a possible role for nonlethal cellular effects of SAD in the pathogenesis of CP. These studies also suggest the suitability of the maternal 25-mg/kg dose of SAD to study cellular biochemical effects in the developing embryo without the complicating influence of cytotoxic effects.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005327:Fetal Resorption / Q000139:chemically induced; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D051379:Mice; D008940:Mitotic Index; D011247:Pregnancy; D014966:Xanthenes; D044004:Xanthones
chemical_list: D014966:Xanthenes; D044004:Xanthones; C009218:secalonic acid