Offspring Damaging Mechanism of Arsenic: the Effects of Prenatal Arsenic
Exposure on Desmogenic and Chondrogenic Ossification in the Rat*
György Ungváry, Erzsébet Tátrai, Éva Szakmáry
National Institute of Occupational Health, Budapest, Hungary
Corresponding author: Prof. Dr. György Ungváry M.D., Ph.D.,
D.Sc.
Director General
National Institute of Occupational Health
H-1450 Budapest
P.O. Box 22, Hungary
Phone: (+36) 1 215-5491
*The study was supported by Grant No T-020875/1996 OTKA and No T-244/1996
of the Ministry of Welfare.
CEJOEM 1998, Vol.4. No.1.:11-14
Key words:
Arsenic, skeletal retardation, skeletal anomalies, desmogenic ossification
Abstract:
The authors treated pregnant rats daily with aqueous solution of sodium
arsenite by gavage, during the whole gestation period, in doses of 0, 10,
15 or 20 mg/kg b.w. On day 21 of gestation the skeletal system of the animals
was studied by alizarin red-S staining, topo-optical and lectin-histochemical
methods.
It was found, that arsenic causes the retardation,
first of all, of the bones of calvaria, the facial bones and other flat
bones developing by desmogenic ossification. On the basis of the negative
topo-optical and lectin-histochemical findings, the near-negative alizarin
red-S staining, showing big empty areas and the strong positivity of Kossa’s
impregnation, localized in the bones bordering the fontanelles and sutures,
it was concluded, that arsenic affects the calcification during desmogenic
ossification, but primarily not by its direct inhibition, rather by disturbing
and damaging the calcium accumulating capacity of the bones.
Received: 4 February 1998
Accepted: 9 March 1998
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Posted: 15 November 1998