Teratogenic effects of selenium compounds on cultured postimplantation rat embryos.
Embryonic susceptibility to selenium (Se) teratogenicity was examined in rats using postimplantation embryo culture. Rat embryos at day 9.5 of gestation were cultured by the roller bottle method for 48 hr in the presence of Se compounds. Sodium selenite, sodium selenate, seleno-DL-methionine, and seleno-DL-cystine were embryolethal at 20, 300, 1,000, and 1,000 microM Se, respectively. All of these compounds caused abnormalities such as deformed optic vesicle and swollen rhombencephalon in the viable embryos. These abnormalities were considered to correspond to in vivo malformations caused by Se in hamster fetuses or in bird embryos. These results indicate that rat embryos are susceptible to Se teratogenicity. It seems that there are differences in potency ranking of Se compounds between rat and bird embryos.
Usami
M
M
Division of Pharmacology, National Institute of Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan.
Ohno
Y
Y
D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced; D000818:Animals; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000187:drug effects*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000187:drug effects; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*
D018036:Selenium Compounds