Evaluation of the developmental toxicity of formamide in Sprague-Dawley (CD) rats.
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Timed-pregnant CD(R) outbred albino Sprague-Dawley rats received formamide (50, 100, or 200 mg/kg/day) or vehicle (5 ml/kg deionized/distilled water, po) on gestational days (gd) 6 through 19. Maternal food and water consumption (absolute and relative), body weight, and clinical signs were monitored at regular intervals throughout gestation. At termination (gd 20), confirmed-pregnant females (21-23 per group) were evaluated for clinical status and gestational outcome; live fetuses were examined for external, visceral, and skeletal malformations and variations. There were no maternal deaths and no dose-related clinical signs. At 200 mg/kg/day, maternal body weight on gd 20, weight gain, and gravid uterine weight were significantly decreased. Maternal weight gain, corrected for gravid uterine weight, liver weight (absolute or relative), and food and water consumption (absolute or relative), were not affected. Formamide did not affect prenatal viability or incidences of fetal malformations or variations. Average fetal body weight/litter was decreased at 100 and 200 mg/kg/day. Fetal body weight was affected at lower daily doses than in previously published studies, possibly due to the longer total exposure period and/or lack of a recovery period between cessation of exposure and termination. In summary, the maternal toxicity no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) was 100 mg/kg/day and the low observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) was 200 mg/kg/day under the conditions of this study. Similarly, the developmental toxicity NOAEL was 50 mg/kg/day and the LOAEL was 100 mg/kg/day. (+info)
Genetic and teratogenic approaches to craniofacial development.
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Craniofacial malformations are the most common birth defects that occur in humans, with facial clefting representing the majority of these defects. Facial clefts can arise at any stage of development due to perturbations that alter the extracellular matrix as well as affect the patterning, migration, proliferation, and differentiation of cells. In this review, we focus on recent advances in the understanding of the developmental basis for facial clefting through the analysis of the effects of gene disruption experiments and treatments with teratogens in both chickens and mice. Specifically, we analyze the results of disruptions to genes such as Sonic hedgehog (Shh), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), Distal-less (Dlx), and transforming growth factor beta 3 (TGFbeta3). We also describe the effects that teratogens such as retinoic acid, jervine, and cyclopamine have on facial clefting and discuss mechanisms for their action. In addition to providing insight into the bases for abnormal craniofacial growth, genetic and teratogenic techniques are powerful tools for understanding the normal developmental processes that generate and pattern the face. (+info)
7-ketocholesterol is an endogenous modulator for the arylhydrocarbon receptor.
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We have identified 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC) as an endogenous modulator that inhibits transactivation by the arylhydrocarbon receptor (AhR) through competitive binding against xenobiotic ligands. 7-KC binds AhR and displaces labeled dioxin (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo(p)dioxin (TCDD)). IC(50) is 5 x 10(-7) m in vivo and 7 x 10(-6) m in vitro. These figures are consistent with its concentration in human blood plasma and tissues. Association with 7-KC prevents AhR binding to DNA. 7-KC blocks the TCDD-mediated transactivation of stably expressed reporter gene constructs in T47-D cells as well as the expression of the endogenous CYP 1A1 gene in HepG2 cells and in primary porcine aortic endothelial cells. Injection of 7-KC to rats blocks the induction of CYP 1A1 messenger RNA and protein in endothelial cells from myocardial blood vessels. The differential sensitivity of mammalian species to toxic effects of AhR ligands, especially dioxin (TCDD), correlates with the expression of 7-hydroxycholesterol dehydrogenase, which synthesizes 7-KC from 7-hydroxycholesterol. The documented involvement of AhR ligands in cardiovascular diseases through lipid peroxidation and endothelium dysfunction can now be examined in the context of displacement of this protective modulator. (+info)
Testin induction: the role of cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate/protein kinase A signaling in the regulation of basal and lonidamine-induced testin expression by rat sertoli cells.
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Results of previous in vitro and in vivo studies have illustrated that the expression of testin by Sertoli cells is tightly associated with the disruption of Sertoli-germ cell junctions. In the present study, treatment of rats with cadmium chloride (CdCl(2)), which disrupted the inter-Sertoli tight junctions, failed to induce any changes in testicular testin expression. In contrast, lonidamine, an antispermatogenic drug that rearranges the Sertoli cell membrane microfilament structure causing a disruption of Sertoli-germ cell adhesion junctions, induced a drastic increase in testicular testin expression when administered orally. Lonidamine-induced Sertoli cell testin expression involved both ongoing RNA and de novo protein synthesis. Basal testin expression remained stable during the 27-h incubation with actinomycin D but required de novo protein synthesis in vitro. An inhibitor of protein kinase A, Rp-cAMPS, caused a 50% inhibition of Sertoli cell testin expression at 10 microM within 24 h. A biphasic response was noted in testin expression when forskolin was included in the Sertoli cell culture, and high concentrations of cAMP analogues (1 mM) rapidly reduced testin expression. However, lonidamine can abolish the inhibitory effect of cAMP analogues on Sertoli cell testin expression. These results illustrate that the induction of testin expression may involve several signal transduction pathways. (+info)
Teratologic studies on rat perinates and offspring from dams treated with ethylnitrosourea (ENU).
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Ethylnitrosourea (ENU), a well known DNA alkylating agent, induces anomalies in the central nervous system (CNS), craniofacial tissues, limbs and male reproductive organs. Recently we clarified that excess cell death caused by apoptosis occurred in these organs and tissues of rat fetuses from dams treated with ENU at day 13 of gestation (GD13). In this study, we examined fetuses at GD21 and offspring at 10 weeks of age after ENU administration to pregnant rats at GD13 in order to clarify the relationship between ENU-induced apoptosis in the fetal tissues and teratogenicity of ENU. Severe intrauterine growth retardation was observed in the ENU group, and the body weight of the offspring in the ENU group was significantly lower than that of the control group throughout the experiment. In addition, a high incidence of microencephaly, ectrodactyly and curved caudal vertebrae was observed in the offspring from dams treated with ENU at GD13. Judging from the results of our previous and present studies, it was strongly suggested that ENU-induced apoptosis in rat fetal tissues may play an important role in the induction of anomalies in the corresponding tissues. (+info)
Cholesterol modification of proteins.
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The demonstration over 30 years ago that inhibitors of cholesterol biosynthesis disrupt animal development suggested an intriguing connection between fundamental cellular metabolic processes and the more global processes of embryonic tissue patterning. Adding a new dimension to this relationship is the more recent finding that the Hedgehog family of tissue patterning factors are covalently modified by cholesterol. Here we review the mechanism of the Hedgehog autoprocessing reaction that results in this modification, and compare this reaction to that undergone by other autoprocessing proteins. We also discuss the biological consequences of cholesterol modification, in particular the use of cholesterol as a molecular handle in the spatial deployment of the protein signal in developing tissues. Finally, the developmental consequences of chemical and genetic disruption of cholesterol homeostasis are summarized, along with the potential importance of cholesterol-rich lipid rafts in production of and response to the Hh signal. (+info)
Retinoic acid-mediated gene expression in transgenic reporter zebrafish.
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Retinoic acid-mediated gene activation is important for normal vertebrate development. The size and nature of retinoic acid make it difficult to identify the precise cellular location of this signaling molecule throughout an embryo. Additionally, retinoic acid (RA) signaling is regulated by a complex combination of receptors, coactivators, and antagonizing proteins. Thus, in order to integrate these signals and identify regions within a whole developing embryo where cells can respond transcriptionally to retinoic acid, we have used a reporter transgenic approach. We have generated several stable lines of transgenic zebrafish which use retinoic acid response elements to drive fluorescent protein expression. In these zebrafish lines, transgene expression is localized to regions of the neural tube, retina, notochord, somites, heart, pronephric ducts, branchial arches, and jaw muscles in embryos and larvae. Transgene expression can be induced in additional regions of the neural tube and retina as well as the immature notochord, hatching gland, enveloping cell layer, and fin by exposing embryos to retinoic acid. Treatment with retinoic acid synthase inhibitors, citral and diethylaminobenzaldehyde (DEAB), during neurulation, greatly reduces transgene expression. DEAB treatment of embryos at gastrulation phenocopies the embryonic effects of vitamin A deprivation or targeted disruption of the RA synthase retinaldehyde dehydrogenase-2 in other vertebrates. Together these data suggest that the reporter expression we see in zebrafish is dependent upon conserved vertebrate pathways of RA synthesis. (+info)
Toward a biologically based dose-response model for developmental toxicity of 5-fluorouracil in the rat: acquisition of experimental data.
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Biologically based dose-response (BBDR) models represent an emerging approach to improving the current practice of human health-risk assessment. The concept of BBDR modeling is to incorporate mechanistic information about a chemical that is relevant to the expression of its toxicity into descriptive mathematical terms, thereby providing a quantitative model that will enhance the ability for low-dose and cross-species extrapolation. Construction of a BBDR model for developmental toxicity is particularly complicated by the multitude of possible mechanisms. Thus, a few model assumptions were made. The current study illustrates the processes involved in selecting the relevant information for BBDR modeling, using an established developmental toxicant, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), as a prototypic example. The primary BBDR model for 5-FU is based on inhibition of thymidylate synthetase (TS) and resultant changes in nucleotide pools, DNA synthesis, cell-cycle progression, and somatic growth. A single subcutaneous injection of 5-FU at doses ranging from 1 to 40 mg/kg was given to pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats at gestational day 14; controls received saline. 5-FU was absorbed rapidly into the maternal circulation, and AUC estimates were linear with administered doses. We found metabolites of 5-FU directly incorporated into embryonic nucleic acids, although the levels of incorporation were low and lacked correlation with administered doses. On the other hand, 5-FU produced dose-dependent inhibition of thymidylate synthetase in the whole embryo, and recovery from enzyme inhibition was also related to the administered dose. As a consequence of TS inhibition, embryonic dTTP and dGTP were markedly reduced, while dCTP was profoundly elevated, perhaps due to feedback regulation of intracellular nucleotide pools. The total contents of embryonic macromolecules (DNA and protein) were also reduced, most notably at the high doses. Correspondingly, dose-related reductions of fetal weight were seen as early as GD 15, and these deficits persisted for the remainder of gestation. These detailed dose-response parameters involved in the expression of 5-FU developmental toxicity were incorporated into mathematical terms for BBDR modeling. Such quantitative models should be instrumental to the improvement of high-to-low dose and cross-species extrapolation in health-risk assessment. (+info)