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Micromass Culture of Midbrain Cells and its Relevance to in Vitro Mechanistic Studies *
Author(s) -
TSUCHIYA Toshie,
ETO Kazuhiro,
BURGIN Heinrich,
KISTLER Andreas
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
congenital anomalies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1741-4520
pISSN - 0914-3505
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-4520.1992.tb00785.x
Subject(s) - teratology , midbrain , in vitro , embryo , biology , cell culture , andrology , pharmacology , embryonic stem cell , toxicology , microbiology and biotechnology , neuroscience , central nervous system , biochemistry , genetics , medicine , fetus , pregnancy , gene
The relationship between ethylenethiourea (ETU)‐induced malformations of cultured rat whole embryos and the alterations of midbrain (MB) cells was investigated and species‐specific ETU‐induced alterations between rat and mouse MB cells were determined. Herefore, we developed new methods for monitoring teratogenic activities in serum fluids without heat treatment. The serum samples were prepared from rats and mice given ETU, and ETU‐teratogenicity was evaluated in both species. We determined that the different sensitivity of the midbrain of the rat and mouse may be the main reason that ETU was teratogenic in rats but not in mice. Next, we showed that MB‐cultures are unsuitable for estimating the teratogenic potential of arotinoids. MB differentiation was adversely affected only at concentrations which caused cell death. Finally, we demonstrated that the embryolethal action of new herbicides is not detectable in the micromass teratogenic test. However, the V79 colony assay may be useful for preliminary screening of embryolethal effects of herbicides.