OBJECTIVE Silybum marianum has been used for centuries in herbal medicine for treatment of liver diseases. Currently, there is no data available on the possible effects of silymarin on fetal development. This study aimed to investigate the teratogenic effect of silymarin on BALB/c mice fetuses. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 40 pregnant mice were divided into 4 groups of 10 mice each. Three...

Deformed amphibians have been observed in eutrophic habitats, and some clues point to the retinoic acids (RAs) or RA mimics. However, RAs are generally thought of as vertebrate-specific hormones, and there was no evidence that RAs exist in cyanobacteria or algae blooms. By analyzing RAs and their analogs 4-oxo-RAs in natural cyanobacteria blooms and cultures of cyanobacteria and algae, we showe...

AIM In order to assess whether the use of metronidazole during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of congenital malformations, a meta-analysis was conducted. METHODS All epidemiological studies (cohort and case-control) which estimate risk of congenital malformations after exposure to metronidazole during early pregnancy were included in the meta-analysis. To obtain a summary odds rat...

Many chemicals shown to be teratogenic in laboratory animals are not known to be teratogenic in humans. However, it remains to be determined if the unresponsiveness of humans is due to lessened sensitivity, to generally subteratogenic exposure levels, or to the lack of an appropriate means of identifying human teratogens. On the other hand, with the exception of the coumarin anticoagulant drugs...

Pregnant Wistar Albino rats were injected intraperitoneally with the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), obtained from several different suppliers, and with the dye trypan blue. Twenty USP units of TSH were injected on days 7 to 10 of pregnancy, one quarter of the total dose each day. Trypan blue was injected as a single subteratogenic dose (0.6 mg/100 gm maternal body weight) on day 8. Autopsy ...

The toxic, genotoxic and teratogenic potential of a municipal sewage sludge was assessed using the micronucleus assay on the larvae of the amphibian Xenopus laevis and with the tobacco somatic mutation test using the yellow-green xanthi Dulieu mutant a(1)(+)/a(1) a(2)(+)/a(2). The teratogenic potential was assessed by means of the Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay-Xenopus (FETAX). Various doses o...

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), the first member of the arenavirus family to be isolated, is the causative agent of a zoonosis acquired from chronically viremic mice or hamsters (1). The clinical spectrum of acquired human LCMV infection ranges from inapparent and asymptomatic to, in rare instances, severely symptomatic, systemic, and fatal central nervous system (CNS) disease. Intra...

Several purine analogues are reported to show a teratogenic action in mammalian embryos when ad ministered at calculated dosage [reviewed by Giroud and Tuchmann-Duplessis-(1), Cahen (2) and Nishimura (3, 4); Kury et al. (5)]. We established that some methylated xanthines such as theophylline, theobromine and caffeine induce skeletal defects and subcutaneous hematoma in mice (6). Hypoxanthine al...

BACKGROUND Bias against negative studies (i.e., those showing no issues with fetal safety of drugs) may cause distorted interpretation with apparently safe drugs being labeled as teratogenic, causing women to terminate pregnancy or not to treat serious medical conditions. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether "positive" studies, claiming teratogenic effects of drugs, which were later shown to be s...

The teratogenic activity of the antitumor agent cisplatinum-2-thymine (platinum thymine blue) was investigated in rats. Pregnant Wistar-derived albino rats were given single ip injections of an aqueous solution of platinum thymine blue (PTB) at one day of pregnancy from day 5 through day 14 (sperm day=day 0). The dosages used ranged from 20 to 80 mg/kg maternal body weight. At autopsy (day 20) ...