Teratogenicity of phenytoin in ICR mouse and antiteratogenic effect of dimethyl sulfoxide

ICR마우스에서 phenytoin의 최기형성 및 dimethyl sulfoxide의 항최기형 효과

Phenytoin(PHT), a commonly prescribed anticonvulsant, has been known as a teratogen in experimental animals and human. However, PHT has strain-specific teratogenic effects for mice and human. Dimethyl sulfoxids(DMSO) has been known to antagonize the teratogenic effects of secalonic acid D, a toxic mold metabolite that has similar teratogenic effects to PHT. Therefore, this study was performed to examine the embryopathic effects of PHT in terms of treatment period and the antiteratogenic effect of DMSO in ICR mice. PHT(75mg/kg, BW) was administered intrapetitoneally on day 10, 10-11 and 10-12 of gestation with or without DMSO(2ml/kg, BW), and the fetal malformation was observed on day 18. Major malformation of fetuses treated with PHT on day 10, 10-11 and 10-12 of gestation was cleft palate, and the percentages of fetus with cleft palate were 14.5%, 31.7% and 51.7%, respectively. Also, there was a significant decrease of cleft palate from 51.7% in PHT alone group to 30.8% in PHT plus DMSO group. Our findings suggest that cleft palate is one of major malformation by PHT treatment in ICR mouse and DMSO has strong antiteratogenic effect.