Prenatal exposure to nickel on pregnant Swiss albino mice and fetal development
2014
Saini, Shivi | Nair, Neena | Saini, Mali Ram
The present study was undertaken to assess the embryotoxic effects due to exposure to nickel (Ni ²⁺) as NiCl ₂·6H ₂O in Swiss albino mice. Nickel was administered orally (46, 92, or 185 mg Ni/kg body weight (b.wt.)) from zeroth to fifth day of gestation on the basis of LD ₅₀. Dams were sacrificed by cervical dislocation on day 18 of gestation and uteri examined. A significant decrease in maternal and fetal body weight was noted at doses of 92 and 185 mg Ni/kg b.wt. Developmental toxicity was evidenced by a dose-dependent significant reduction in the number of implant sites and live fetuses per dam, increase in the number of resorptions as well as post-implantation deaths. A significant decrease in placental weight was also evident at 185 mg Ni/kg b.wt. Exposure increased skeletal aberrations including absence/reduced ossification of nasal, frontal, parietal, intraparietal, supraoccipital bones of skull, reduced number of ribs, sternebrae and caudal vertebrae, absence/reduced ossified carpals, metacarpals, tarsals, metatarsals, and phalanges. Data indicate that Ni elicits embryotoxic effects and poses a risk to the developing embryo when the mother is exposed to NiCl ₂ during the pre-implantation period.
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