Comparative teratological study of stobadin in vivo and in vitro

Stobadin (STO) is a prospective cardioprotective drug with antiarrhythmic and antihypoxic effects on the myocardium. Single iv injections of stobadin administered to rats on days 3, 6, 9 or 12 of gestation at doses of 2 and 6 mg/kg had no teratogenic effect. Slight foetal toxicity was manifested by decreased foetal weight (day 3 of gestation, 6 mg/kg) and increased incidence of delayed ossification of the skull (day 12 of gestation, 6 mg/kg). In vitro studies were performed on chick embryos explanted at Hamburger and Hamilton (HH) stages 4-5 and cultivated in a medium with stobadin concentration ranging from 10(-3) to 10(-8) mol/litre under standard conditions. Concentrations of 10(-3) and 10(-4) mol/litre were lethal. Embryos treated with concentrations from 10(-8) to 10(-5) mol/litre were comparable to those of the control group. The results of in vivo and in vitro tests showed that the antiarrhythmic agent stobadin at concentrations up to the maximal iv therapeutic dose had no overt effects on different developmental stages of the rat embryo and early chick embryogenesis.