Valproic acid (VPA) is an antiepileptic drug used clinically. Because of its known teratogenic properties VPA is not recommended for women of child bearing age. The present study was designed to assess the effects of VPA on both fetal and maternal organs. Randomized groups of pregnant mice were treated as follows: Group 1 (n = 10) 500 mg/kg VPA/day on gestation days 8-11; Group 2 (n = 10) 600 m...

Evaluation of the effects of Arthrospira maxima (AM) was made, otherwise known as Spirulina, on the teratogenicity, genotoxicity, and DNA oxidation processes induced by cadmium (Cd). Pregnant ICR mice were divided into groups and administered water, Cd only, AM only, or AM plus Cd. AM was administered orally at doses of 200, 400, and 800 mg/kg from gestational day 0 (GD0) to GD17, and at GD7 th...

hemizygous male mutants die by E12 and display neural tube defects, exencephaly and left–right asymmetry. Analysis of heterozygous female mutants revealed a severe brain phenotype including expansion of the ventral telencephalon in the dorsal part of the brain, reduction of the cortex and defects in the formation of dorsomedial telencephalic structures from E12.5. Morphological staining of muta...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of gabapentin (GBP) administration on mice fetuses. METHODS This study was carried out in Birjand University of Medical Sciences during 2008. Thirty Balb/c pregnant mice were divided randomly into 3 groups: 2 experimental groups that received 25 mg/kg (I) and 50 mg/kg (II) of GBP intraperitoneally for the first 15 days of pregnancy, and a control group that r...

as axon guidance cues. Both plexin B1 and plexin B2 are expressed during mouse kidney development. Inbred plexin B2 knockout (PB2 KO) mice die prenatally with defects in olfactory bulb development, neuronal proliferation and neural tube closure (exencephaly). We report here that these PB2 KO mice have defects also in kidney morphogenesis. In PB2 / embryos the kidneys are smaller and the number ...

hemizygous male mutants die by E12 and display neural tube defects, exencephaly and left–right asymmetry. Analysis of heterozygous female mutants revealed a severe brain phenotype including expansion of the ventral telencephalon in the dorsal part of the brain, reduction of the cortex and defects in the formation of dorsomedial telencephalic structures from E12.5. Morphological staining of muta...

Perlecan is a heparan sulfate proteoglycan that is expressed in all basement membranes (BMs), in cartilage, and several other mesenchymal tissues during development. Perlecan binds growth factors and interacts with various extracellular matrix proteins and cell adhesion molecules. Homozygous mice with a null mutation in the perlecan gene exhibit normal formation of BMs. However, BMs deteriorate...

Cilia are architecturally complex organelles that protrude from the cell membrane and have signalling, sensory and motility functions that are central to normal tissue development and homeostasis. There are two broad categories of cilia; motile and non-motile, or primary, cilia. The central role of primary cilia in health and disease has become prominent in the past decade with the recognition ...

Cranial neurulation is the embryonic process responsible for formation of the brain primordium. In the mouse embryo, cranial neurulation is a piecemeal process with several initiation sites and two neuropores. Variation in the pattern of cranial neurulation occurs in different mouse strains, and a simpler version of this morphogenetic scheme has been described in human embryos. Exencephaly is m...

in this investigation the effects of excess vitamin a administration during the early embryonic period were studied. intramuscular injection of a single dose of 15000,20000 or 25000 iu/kg vitamin a to pregnant balb/c strain mice on either day 7,8,9 or 10 of gestation (vaginal plug= day 0 of gestation) produced major malformations in the central nervous system (cns) including exencephaly, hydroc...