The developmental toxicities of seven acrylates were studied in Sprague-Dawley rats after inhalation exposure for 6 h/day, during days 6 to 20 of gestation. The exposure concentrations were: for acrylic acid, 50, 100, 200, or 300 ppm; for methyl acrylate, 25, 50, or 100 ppm; for ethyl acrylate, 25, 50, 100, or 200 ppm; for butyl acrylate, 100, 200, or 300 ppm; for ethylhexyl acrylate, 50, 75, o...

The aims of the current study were to determine the half-lethal concentration of ochratoxin A (OTA) as well as the levels of lactate dehydrogenase release and DNA fragmentation induced by OTA in primary porcine fibroblasts, and to examine the role of α-tocopherol in counteracting its toxicity. Cells showed a dose-, time- and origin-dependent (ear vs. embryo) sensitivity to ochratoxin A. Pre-inc...

Cyanobacteria are recognized producers of toxic or otherwise bioactive metabolite associated, in particular, with so-called "harmful algal blooms" (HABs) and eutrophication of freshwater systems. In the present study, two apparently teratogenic indole alkaloids from a freshwater strain of the widespread cyanobacterial genus, Fischerella (Stigonemataceae), were isolated by bioassay-guided fracti...

It is well known that aluminium is potentially neurotoxic. Moreover, there has been concern in recent years that dietary and environmental exposure to aluminium might cause developmental toxicity in mammals. While it is well established that aluminium may be a developmental toxic when administered parenterally, until recently there was little concern about embryo/fetal consequences of aluminium...

Nanoscale titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2) has been widely used in industry and medicine. However, the safety of nano-TiO2 exposure remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated the liver, brain, and embryo toxicity and the underlying mechanism of nano-TiO2 using mice models. The results showed that titanium was distributed to and accumulated in the heart, brain, spleen, lung, and kidney of mice aft...

Increasing uses of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) in commercial products and industrial applications has eventually resulted to their releases into atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. However, knowledge gaps in ENPs toxicity, fate, and behaviour currently limit our ability to quantify risk assessment of materials with nanoscale dimensions, and therefore, the extent of the resul...

The concentration of heavy metals in the environment is normally low. We here address whether using the development of isolated pond snail Radix auricularia eggs would provide a more sensitive endpoint and whether the gelatinous matrix of the egg mass surrounding the eggs indeed protects the snail embryos. In the present study, artificial removal of the gelatinous matrix of egg masses greatly i...

Mice models are an important way to understand the relation between the fetus with cleft palate and changes of maternal biofluid. This paper aims to develop a metabonomics approach to analyze dexamethasone-induced cleft palate in pregnant C57BL/6J mice and to study the relationship between the change of endogenous small molecular metabolites in maternal plasma and the incidence of cleft palate....

Toxicity tests are often used in sediment assessment programs. However, the choice of methods has been largely limited to acute tests. Where sublethal methods have been used, there has been little consistency among programs in the types of the sublethal tests used. The goal of this study was to develop a method for choosing a suite of acute and sublethal tests for use in a California statewide ...