THE STUDY ON TERATOGENICITY OF CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE AND MORPHOLOGICAL TERATOGENESIS MECHANISM OF NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

In this paper, further study was made on the teratogenicity and the morphological teratogenesis mechanism of neural tube defects (NTD) caused by cyclophosphamide(CP). Pregnant SD rats were given single intraperitoneal injection of CP 15 mg/kg on day 13 of gestation. The fetuses were removed on day 20 of gestation, weighed and examined for external malformations. Some embryos were removed respectively at 4, 8, 12, 24, 48 hr after administration of CP, and examined with light microscope and electron microscope. The results showed that CP has obvious embryotoxie and teratogenic effects. Of the survivings, 97.46％ showed external malformations including encephalocele, exencephaly, opened eyes, micrognathia, limb and digital defects etc. We considered that the possible way by which CP caused the malformation on developing embryos may involve the following aspects: (1) CP caused DNA-synthesising cells to degenerate and become necrosis. (2) The cellular organelle (mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum, etc.) became irregular in shape and fragmented. (3) The mesenchyme surrounding the neural tube were also damaged by CP and therefore influenced the skull ossification.