Effects of Maternal Hyperthermia on the Development of C57/BL6 Strain Hsp70 Knock-out Mice Fetuses / 체질인류학회지

ABSTRACT

To investigate the effects of maternal hyperthermia on the formation of congenital anomalies, pregnant Hsp70 knock-out and wild type mice at gestational day (GD) 8.5 were immersed in 43degrees C water bath until their body core temperature reached at 43degrees C. Thereafter, pregnant mice were given more 5 minutes hyperthermic exposure. Pregnant mice were killed at GD 15.5, and fetuses were photographed for external appearance analysis. Fetuses with congenital anomalies such as anophthalmia and exencephaly were 72.6% (53 out of 73) in KO group and 28.2% (26 out of 90) in WT group, respectively. Histological findings showed exencephaly, eye abnormalities such as eyeball with retina only or buried eyeball or absence of eye structure, numerous apoptotic cells in the retina and inner ear neuroepithelium, cleft palate, and delayed endochondral ossification. The results of this study suggest that Hsp70 may have a protective function against heat shock.