Comparative effects of halothane, enflurane, and methoxyflurane on the incidence of abnormal development using sea urchin gametes as an in vitro model system.
The incidence of sea urchin embryos developing abnormally after their exposure to equimolar concentrations of halothane, enflurane, and methoxyflurane has been determined. Halothane concentrations in the 0.6-1.25 mM range caused 18-96% of the embryos to undergo abnormal cleavage at the first cell division. This is important because embryos exhibiting atypical cleavage patterns at the first cell division eventually involute and die before reaching gastrulation. Over the same range of concentrations, enflurane and methoxyflurane have minimal effects on development. However, when exposed to 2.5 mM methoxyflurane, nearly 40% of the cells did not fertilize. These results show that volatile anesthetic agents have decidedly different effects on development and suggest that the incidence of abnormal development may not correlate directly with the anesthetic potency of inhalational agents.
D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced / Q000196:embryology; D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D004737:Enflurane / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D006221:Halothane / Q000633:toxicity*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D008733:Methoxyflurane / Q000633:toxicity*; D008954:Models, Biological; D010063:Ovum / Q000187:drug effects; D011418:Prophase / Q000187:drug effects; D012617:Sea Urchins; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000187:drug effects
D008733:Methoxyflurane; D004737:Enflurane; D006221:Halothane