Effect on fetal mouse development of exposure to MR imaging and gadopentetate dimeglumine

Pregnant mice were exposed to one of five regimens at 9.5 days of gestation: no treatment (group 1), intraperitoneal injection of normal saline (group 2), intraperitoneal injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine (group 3), intraperitoneal injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine and magnetic resonance (MR) exposure (group 4), and MR exposure alone (group 5). At 18 days of gestation, the mice were sacrificed and fetuses were removed and examined for the following end points: litter size, number alive or dead, fetal weight, extremity morphology, eye and ear development, and appearance of the head. A total of 739 fetuses were analyzed: group 1 (n = 161), group 2 (n = 149), group 3 (n = 142), group 4 (n = 136), and group 5 (n = 151). The only statistically significant difference was a lower mean fetal weight in the saline-injection group compared with the control group. The results show that MR exposure with and without gadopentetate dimeglumine had no adverse effect on the end points analyzed.