title: Survey of fluctuating fetal body weights in Sprague-Dawley rats.
abstract: During the past 9 years of reproductive and developmental toxicity studies in Sprague-Dawley rat, we noticed that the average fetal body weight on day 20 of gestation in 81 control groups fluctuated significantly from study to study. The other parameters such as number of implants, resorption rats and number of live fetuses were relatively stable. With information cooperatively given by the animal supplier, we could pin down the possibility of the fluctuation. The animal supplier introduced Sprague-Dawley rats into Japan from the U. S. twice in the past. The documents we analyzed indicated that the fluctuation in fetal body weight was caused by different two colonies which were introduced into Japan at the different times.
authors.affiliation: Development Research Laboratories, Banyu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ban
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Komatsu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakatsuka
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley / Q000502:physiology*