Analysis of teratogenic effects of maternal treatment with 2-bromopropane in mice.

Montreal Protocol set world-wide goals in January 1996 to reduce the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and ultimately eliminate all CFC use. This restriction has advanced the urgent development of alternative chemicals. Recently, in a Korean electronic factory, male and female workers exposed to 2-bromopropane (2-BP), which does not seem to affect the stratospheric ozone and is therefore used as an alternative solvent in open systems instead of CFCs, had potential hematopoietic and reproductive disorders. Several experimental studies also indicate that 2-BP exhibits reproductive and hematopoietic toxicity, but there are very few data containing information on the teratogenicity of 2-BP, although Lim et al. showed a decrease in the number of rat pups born and no teratogenic effects after maternal treatment with 2-BP during pre-organogenesis, which is not a critical stage in organogenesis. Therefore, in the present study, we examined the potential teratogenicity of 2-BP in more detail by injecting it on day 10 of gestation (DG 10), at the late period of organogenesis of fetuses, and observing them at nearterm. This study is the first to examine whether 2-BP has teratogenic effects on rodent fetuses after maternal treatment late in organogenesis of fetuses.