Effects of teratogenic doses of vincristine on mitotic cells in the fetuses of DBA mice

✍ Scribed by Ungthavorn, S. ;Joneja, M.

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1969
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 547 KB
• Volume: 126
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9106
• DOI: 10.1002/aja.1001260304

✦ Synopsis

The main aim of this study was to determine the effects of vincristine on the dividing cells in mouse fetuses. Teratogenic doses of vincristine sulfate (Oncovin) were given intraperitoneally to pregnant DBAiQJ mice on day 9 of pregnancy. Treated mothers were killed and the fetuses recovered at eight different time intervals ranging from one-half hour to 96 hours after injection. Estimates of mitotic arrests, mitotic irregularities and mitotic index were obtained from Feulgen-stained paraffin sections of the fetuses. A sevenfold increase in the number of metaphase plates was observed at two hours after vincristine treatment. The incidence of anaphase-telophase aberrations, such as chromosome bridges and fragments, was slightly higher in the treated fetuses than that in the controls. This study showed that vincristine crossed the placental bamer to produce cellular changes which might play an important role in initiating growth defects.