Direct effects of trypan blue on cardiac extracellular macromolecule synthesis

The direct effects of the cardiac teratogen trypan blue on some parameters of embryonic chick heart metabolism were examined in vitro. Trypan blue inhibits chondroitin sulfate biosynthesis but stimulates incorporation of 3H-glucosamine into hyaluronate, heparin, and glycopeptides. 3H-fucose incorporation into glycoprotein is also stimulated. Total incorporation of 14C-labeled amino acids is elevated in the presence of trypan blue. Trypan blue does not cause qualitative changes in labeled end products; rather the metabolic alterations are quantitative. The possible exceptions are glucosamine-labeled glycoproteins since quantitative differences in glycopeptides could reflect qualitative differences in parent glycoproteins. These observations suggest that abnormal heart development, induced by trypan blue, may result from a multiplicity of metabolic alterations and not from any single chemical change.