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Further characterization of a teratogen in tap water
Author(s) -
Hrubec Terry C,
Mallela Murali K,
Przbyla Jenny,
Etzkorn Felicia A,
Blodgett Dennis
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.450.3
Subject(s) - teratology , tap water , gestation , toxicology , anencephaly , ecotoxicology , neural tube , environmental chemistry , biology , chemistry , physiology , embryo , pregnancy , environmental science , environmental engineering , genetics
In May of 2006, we began to observe neural tube defects (NTDs ‐ a common birth defect resulting in spina bifida and anencephaly) in untreated mice. The cause of these defects was eventually traced to the municipal tap water provided to the mice. Many teratogens are routinely found at low concentrations in tap water. To narrow down possible suspect contaminants, F2 mice were exposed to municipal tap water with different water treatment regimes and from different locations within the water treatment plant. Tap water was also fractionated chemically into volatile and not‐volatile fractions and provided to F2 mice. All mice were exposed for 8 weeks before breeding and throughout gestation. Embryos were examined on gestational day 9.5 for NTDs. Municipal tap water derived from well water was not teratogenic while all samples derived from surface waters were teratogenic. Water treatment method did not affect teratogenicity. The teratogen appeared to be volatile, but some teratogenic effect remained in the non‐volatile fraction. Thus either the teratogen is of low volatility and is partitioning into both fractions, or there are two teratogenic compounds acting synergistically to produce the NTDs in mice. This work was funded through the Harvey Peter's Foundation; Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS); and NIH grant K01RR16241.