Developmental Toxicity of Orally Administered Vanadium Pentoxide in Rats and Rabbits
Éva Szakmáry1, Miklós Náray2, Erzsébet Tátrai1, Aranka Hudák1, and György Ungváry3
1 National Institute of Occupational Health, József Fodor National Center for Public Health, Budapest, Hungary
2 József Fodor National Center for Public Health, Budapest, Hungary
3 National Medical and Public Health Office, Budapest, Hungary
Corresponding author: Éva Szakmáry, Ph.D.
National Institute of Occupational Health
József Fodor National Center for Public Health
H-1450 Budapest, Hungary
Telephone: (+36)1-476-1175
Fax number: (+36)1-215-6891
E-mail address: szakmary@fjokk.hu
Key words:
Maternal toxicity, weight retardation, major anomalies, teratogenic effect.
CEJOEM 2002, Vol.8. No.4.: 310–321
Abstract:
The developmental toxic effect of vanadium pentoxide given per os by gavage was studied in
pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats and NZ rabbits. The rats were daily treated with doses of 0, 2.5, 5.0
or 10 mg/kg b.m. during the whole gestation, while the rabbits with doses of 0, 1.25, 2.5, 5.0 or
10 mg/kg b.m. during the phase of organogenesis. The dams and fetuses were examined on the days
21 (rats) and 30 (rabbits) of gestation, using standard teratological methods. The concentration
of vanadium was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry in the maternal and fetal blood,
kidney, and liver as well as in the amniotic fluid. Both in rats and rabbits, the maternal blood
concentration of vanadium showed a dose-dependent increase and vanadium penetrated the placenta
and appeared in the blood and organs. The maternal toxicity of vanadium pentoxide proved to be
moderate in the rats and significant in the rabbits. In rats, it was embryotoxic causing
retardation of the skeletal development of the fetuses, however, no teratogenic effect was
detected. In rabbits, doses of vanadium pentoxide that induced maternal toxic effects did not
cause major developmental anomalies.
Received: 27 November 2002
Accepted: 19 February 2003
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