Diazacholesterol-induced ichthyosiform changes in hairless mice: Effects of oral etretinate and isotretinoin

✍ Scribed by J.-M. Geiger; H.-R. Hartmann

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 797 KB
• Volume: 278
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0340-3696
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00418176

✦ Synopsis

Hyperkeratotic skin changes in hairless mice can be induced by oral administration of 20,25-diazacholesterol (DZC), a hypocholesterolemic agent. This system has been reported as an animal model of ichthyosis [3] and used for the investigation of the effects of topical retinoids [2]. The aim of our pilot study was to test in this animal model two oral retinoids, etretinate and isotretinoin, both therapeutically active in ichthyotic disorders in humans [6].

Female hairless mice (Fti-Alb hr/hr), 6-8 weeks old, weighing 25-28 g were used. They were housed under conventional conditions and were given a DZC supplemented powder diet. The food intake was recorded daily and DZC recalculated to adjust to 60 mg/kg per day. In parallel, control animals received a normal diet, without DZC. A few hyperkeratotic skin changes were observed after 7 weeks in DZC mice. To accelerate the process, 100 mg/kg DZC, dissolved in arachis oil, was additionally administered 5 days/week by gastric tube from week 8 to the end of the study.

After 14 weeks, the DZC-fed mice were divided into three parallel groups, A, B, and C. In group A, ten DZC-fed mice were additionally given orally 50 mg/kg per day etretinate (Ro 10-9359) dissolved in arachis oil on 7 days: day 1 through 5, day 8, and day 9. In group B, ten DZC mice were administered 100 mg/kg per day isotretinoin (Ro 4-3780), under similar conditions as those for group A. Group C comprised ten DZC-fed mice which did not receive retinoid treatment. In parallel, a control group D was