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Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants
07:08

Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants

Published on: March 6, 2018

Developmental alterations in murine embryos exposed in vitro to an estrogenic pesticide, o,p'-DDT

A R Greenlee1, C A Quail, R L Berg

  • 1National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield Medical Research Foundation, Wisconsin 5449, USA. greenlea@mfldclin.edu

Reproductive Toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.)
|December 29, 1999
PubMed

Insights

Exposure to o,p'-DDT significantly harmed mouse embryo development, impacting blastocyst formation and cell count. This study suggests in vitro embryo culture is a fast method for screening developmental toxicants.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental toxicology
  • Reproductive toxicology
  • In vitro toxicology

Background:

  • Evaluating developmental toxicants is crucial for risk assessment.
  • Rapid screening methods for developmental toxicants are needed.
  • In vitro models offer potential for efficient toxicological evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the developmental toxicity of o,p '-DDT and p,p '-DDT using cultured mouse pronuclear embryos.
  • To evaluate the utility of in vitro preimplantation embryo culture for rapid toxicant screening.

Main Methods:

  • Pronuclear (2PN) mouse embryos were cultured for 96 hours.
  • Embryos were exposed to ethanol (control), 17/beta-estradiol, o,p '-DDT, or p,p '-DDT.
  • Developmental parameters (blastocyst formation, cell number, apoptosis) were assessed.
  • Embryo sex was determined using multiplex polymerase chain reaction.

Main Results:

  • o,p '-DDT exposure significantly reduced embryo development to blastocyst and mean cell number.
  • Apoptosis increased in embryos exposed to o,p '-DDT in a dose-responsive manner.
  • Both male and female embryos showed comparable susceptibility to o,p '-DDT toxicity.

Conclusions:

  • In vitro culture of preimplantation embryos is a viable method for assessing developmental toxicant effects.
  • This in vitro approach can accelerate the screening process for developmental toxicants.
  • o,p '-DDT exhibits significant developmental toxicity in early mouse embryos.

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