Background:
Prenatal rat embryo exposure to retinoids induces severe malformations in various organs; the most active and teratogenic metabolite is all-trans-retinoic acid (atra). the mechanisms of this embryopathy are only partly known. in the present study, the influence of glycine on the teratogenicity of atra was investigated.
Methods:
Embryos from 5 groups of white rats were studied: group 1 remained untreated; group 2 received glycine 2% in drinking water ad libitum from the first gestational day (gd 1); group 3 was administered vehicle (corn oil); group 4 was treated with atra (50 mg/kg of body weight) injected (ip); and group 5 was treated with atra (50 mg/kg of body weight ip) plus glycine 2% in drinking water ad libitum from gd 1. atra was administrated daily from gd 8-10. dams were killed on the 21st day of pregnancy, and their fetuses were examined to detect external, visceral, and skeletal malformations.
Results:
The results show that the atra-administered dose is not toxic for the dams, and that although fetal death was not observed, it produced abnormalities in the fetuses. glycine reduced atra-induced teratogenic effects (external and skeletal defects).
Conclusions:
The results indicate that glycine effectively reduces the teratogenic effects of atra. thus, glycine might be useful for the prevention of vitamin a teratogenicity.