Effect of maternal sodium Fluoride administration during gestation and lactation on the thyroid gland development of albino rat offspring

The study was carried to follow up the postnatal developmental sequences of the rat thyroid gland in addition to investigate the effect of gestational and lactational administration of sodium fluoride on the offspring thyroid gland and its reversibility after fluoride withdrawal. Thirty mature female albino rats were used and allowed for mating. Then the known pregnant rats were divided into two groups: group [A] [control group] received daily distilled water and group [B] [experimental group] received daily oral dose of sodium fluoride dissolved in distilled wafer via gastric tube [40mg/kgm body weight]. Drug administration started from the gestational day 14 up to the weaning on the postnatal day 21. The offspring of the control and experimental [fluoride treated] groups were used at the age of one, five, ten fifteen days.three weeks, one and six months [eight pups from each age]. The thyroid glands were dissected out and then the thyroid specimens were processed for histological study using Hemtoxylin and Eosin and Van Gieson 's staining methods. Histomorphometric technique was done to estimate the volume proportion of the thyroid follicles and interstitial tissues as well as the thickness of follicular epithelium of the rats of the experimental [fluoride treated] group compared to that of the control group at the age of three weeks, one and six months using the point counting technique. The obtained results were statistically analyzed using student t test. The histological results highlighted the normal postnatal developmental events of rat thyroid gland. The thyroid gland showed a primitive and immature microfollicular pattern at birth to attain the macrofollicular pattern by the second postnatal week. Further functional maturation was observed by the third postnatal week till they reached full maturity by the first postnatal month. These observations demonstrated well defined mature macrofollicles that contain abundant colloid material with visible absorptive vesicles. The histological findings of the current study demonstrated the effect of sodium fluoride on thyroid follicular pattern, follicular colloid content and the interfollicular connective tissue. These observations included predominance of microfollicular pattern, presence of disturbed follicular pattern reduction of colloid content [glycoprotein], widening of the interfollicular spaces, increased vascularity as well as obvious fibroplastic and monocytic infiltration. The histomorphometric measurements revealed statistically significant changes behween rats of the control and experimental groups at the age of three weeks and one month. The histological and histomorphometric results of the rats of the experimental group at the age of six months remained more or less similar to that of the control apart from widening of the interfollicular space. This partial recovery of thyroid histopathological and histomorphometric indices after cessation of sodium fluoride administration could indicate reversibility of its adverse effect

Study on the effects of gestational and lactational administration of caffeine on the cornea and retina of the albino rat offsprings

Caffeine was a methylated xanthine derivative, widely used psycho-stimulant that is self-administered by population and present in numerous drugs and dietary products. It was a legal stimulant that is readily available even to pregnant women and children. Caffeine crossed the placenta easily, passed to the amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood and appeared in the urine and plasma of the neonates. It was diffused readily into the breast milk, A total number of 18 adult female albino rats were used. They were divided into three groups, one control group and two experimental groups, each was formed of 6 animals. The control group received distilled water during gestation and lactational period, the first experimental group received caffeine powder dissolved in distilled water using a oro-gastric tube in a single dose of 25 mg/kg/ day from the day zero of pregnancy until the day of labor while the second experimental group received a single dose of 25 mg/kg/ day during lactational period only until the age of weaning. The litters of the first experimental and half of the control group were sacrificed just after being delivered while those of the second experimental and other half of the control were sacrificed at the age of twenty two postnatal days. Ten litters from each group were used. The specimens obtained from the right eyes were prepared as semithin sections for histological and morphometric studies. The litters of the experimental groups revealed increased thickness of the corneal epithelial layer, prominent Descemet 's membrane, thickened endothelial layer and an apparently normal corneal stroma. The total thickness of the retina and the thicknesses of different retinal layers of the experimental groups revealed marked significant reduction in comparison to the control groups in the newly-born and twenty two days old rats

Teratogenic effects of adriamycin on the prenatal development of the vertebral column of the albino rat

Adriamycin [cytotoxic, antineoplastic antibiotic] and its metabolites had been implicated as human teratogens. Teratogenic studies had shown multiple congenital defects in rats exposed prenatally to adriamycin including esophageal atresia, multiple intestinal atresias, hydronephrosis and retarded bone ossification and formation of accessory ribs. Forty litters were used in this study for both control and experimental groups [20 for each] in the present study. Their mothers received 3 intra peritoneal injections [each of 1.75 mg/kg] in the 6[th], 7[th] and 8[th] days of gestation. On the 21[st] day of gestation all pregnant animals were sacrificed and their fetuses were obtained through laparotomy and uterine incisions. One half of the litters of both control and experimental groups were used for gross skeletal study using alizarin red stain and the other half was subjected for light microscopic study using ordinary paraffin section preparation technique. Morphometric measurements were applied to study variations of the total body weight, the CRL of the litters, the vertical and antro-posterior diameters of the vertebral bodies and the disc space and vertical diameter of the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral discs. Multiple vertebral defects in the form of delayed or absent ossification features in the vertebral bodies, delayed or fusion between the bodies and neural arches, abnormal fusion between vertebral bodies, non visualization of most caudal vertebrae and significant decreased morphometric measurements of the experimental animals were observed in the present work. These abnormalities as well as features of intrauterine growth retardation caused by adriamycin that is considered as an antimitotic agent causing delayed differentiation and growth by interfering with cell division