Journal or Publishing Institution: Congenital Anomalies
Study: https://web.archive.org/web/20180731145903/https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110002787683/
Author(s): Watanabe, T.
Article Type: Peer Reviewed Study
Record ID: 1043
Abstract: Glufosinate ammonium, which is a component of the herbicide BASTA, is a phosphinic analog of glutamic acid. Its activity is related to the inhibition of glutamine synthetase. Previous studies demonstrated that glufosinate has no teratogenic potential in rats and rabbits in vivo. In the present study, we determined whether glufosinate could affect embryonic development in mice and rats using whole embryo and micro mass cultures. In day 8 mouse embryos cultured for 48 hours, glufosinate (10 ug/ml) caused significant overall embryonic growth retardation which was especially prevalent in the craniofacial region. Approximately one third of the embryos exhibited specific defects including hypoplasia or prosencephalon and visceral arches. These findings were similar to those observed in day 9 rat embryos. The glufosinate treatment (more than 10 ug/ml) greatly reduced the size of crown-rump length and produced 100% malformed embryos. In day 10 mouse embryos cultured for 24 hours, glufosinate produced a high percentage of embryos with morphological defects (84.6%) and caused dead embryos (7.1%) at 60 ug/ml. These embryos were characterized by hypoplasia of prosencephalon and edema of lateral face and visceral arches. For histological evaluation, much pyknotic debris was present throughout the neuroepithelium in the brain vesicle and neural tube, but did not involve the underlying mesenchyme. In addition, glufosinate inhibited the proliferation of mouse embryonic midbrain cells on day 12 with 50% inhibition occurring at 3.4 ug/ml. The ratio of IP50/ID50 (50% inhibition concentration for cell proliferation/differentiation) in limb bud cells was 0.76 and 1.52 on days 11 and 12 mouse embryos, respectively. These findings indicated that glufosinate caused teratogenicity in vitro, which may be related to the cell growth inhibition of neuroepithelium in mouse embryos.
Keywords: glufosinate ammonium, BASTA, glutamine synthetase, teratogenic potential, embryonic development, embryotoxicity, rat embryos, rabbit embryos, mouse, mice, rats, rodent, rodents
Citation: Watanabe, T., 1995. Developmental effects of glufosinate ammonium on mammalian embryos in vitro: The 35th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Teratology Society. Congenital Anomalies, 35(3), p.371.
