Effect of citrinin on mouse embryonic development in vitro and in vivo

Citrinin (CTN), a mycotoxin that is often found as a natural contaminant in foodstuffs and animal feeds, has been demonstrated to have cytotoxic and genotoxic effects on various mammalian cells. In this study, we examined the cytotoxic effects of CTN on mouse blastocysts and subsequent early development in vitro and in vivo. Blastocysts treated with 15 or 30 microM CTN showed significant increases in apoptosis and significant decreases in total cell number. In addition, CTN-pretreated blastocysts showed a significantly lower implantation success rate. Treatment with 30 microM CTN was associated with increased resorption of postimplantation embryos and decreased fetal weight. Our results collectively indicate that CTN-induced apoptosis in the mouse blastocyst reduced cell number and retarded early postimplantation development. The extent to which CTN may have teratogenic potential in early human development is not known.