Apoptosis induced by glufosinate ammonium in the neuroepithelium of developing mouse embryos in culture.
Glufosinate ammonium structurally resembles glutamate and blocks glutamine synthetase. Glufosinate was recently found to be dysmorphogenic in mammals in vitro. The present study examined the cell death induced specifically by glufosinate in the neuroepithelium of mouse embryos. Electron micrograph revealed characteristic chromatin condensation and segregation, extracellular apoptotic bodies, and cell fragments phagocytosed in macrophages in the neuroepithelium of the brain vesicle and neural tube. Moreover neuroepithelial cells undergoing DNA fragmentation were histochemically identified. DNA gel electrophoresis of the neuroepithelial layer revealed a DNA ladder. These observations demonstrate that glufosinate specifically induced apoptosis in the neuroepithelium of embryos.
Watanabe
T
T
Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Japan. twatanab@medid.yamagata_u.ac.jp
D000613:Aminobutyrates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000187:drug effects*; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*
D000613:Aminobutyrates; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; C003121:phosphinothricin