Reproductive and developmental toxicity of ethylene glycol in the mouse

The effects of ethylene glycol on reproduction of CD-1 mice were tested in a protocol which permitted continuous breeding during a specified interval. The dosage amounts of 0, 0.25, 0.5, or 1% ethylene glycol by continuous administration in drinking water for male and female mice were selected from the general toxic responses observed in a 14-day pilot study. After the first week of administration, begun at 11 weeks of age, the animals were housed one male and one female per cage for 14 weeks during which time any offspring were examined, sexed, weighted, and killed to allow continuous mating of the first generation. At the end of the 14-week cohabitation period, the males and females were separated and any litters delivered after that time were kept until weaning. Those second-generation animals were mated at about 70 days of age. Slight, but statistically significant, decreases were found in the numbers of litters per fertile pair and live pups per litter in the 1% dose group and live pup weight at the 1% dose groups compared to control F0 mice. Facial anomalies were noted in a number of offspring of high-dose-treated mice and an examination for skeletal defects demonstrated a pattern including reduction in the size of bones in the skull, fused ribs, and abnormally shaped sternebrae and vertebrae in the high-dose-treated, but not the untreated, mice. Neither the 0.25 nor 0.5% dose groups were significantly affected. No clinical signs of toxicity or significant adverse effects on body weight or water consumption were seen at the doses used, but two deaths occurred at the 0.5% quantity which may have been related to oxalate crystal deposition in the kidney.