Maternal long-term inhalation exposure to perchloroethylene and prenatal teratogenicity: morphometric, hormonal, and histological study

Abstract

Some commonly used chemicals have teratogenic effects. Perchloroethylene (PCE) is a liquid that is widely used in various industries and drying clothes. In this study, the teratogenic effects of PCE in rat embryos were investigated. In this experimental study, 32 adult Wistar female rats in the weight range of 230-250 g were used. Female rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 8). Control group (without PCE inhalation), experimental group G(I) (exposed to PCE 18 days prior to mating), experimental group G(II) (exposed to PCE 18 days after mating) and experimental group G(III) (exposed to PCE 18 days before and 18 days after mating). Pregnant rats were anesthetized on the 18th day of gestation and then serum and embryos were removed for the required studies. Embryos were examined for number, weight, sex, morphometric parameters of organs, and tissue samples were prepared for histological studies. Serum isolated from dams were evaluated for sexual and gonadal hormones. The results of this study showed that PCE has teratogenic effects on rat embryos. Infertility and reduced birth rate were other effects of PCE in rats. PCE has teratogenic effects and impairs the reproductive system of rats.

Keywords:

• Perchloroethylene
• morphometric parameters
• birth defect
• teratogen
• rat

Acknowledgments

This study is financially supported by Bu-Ali Sina University.

Ethics approval

The research protocol was also approved by the University’s Animal Ethics Committee (IR.BASU.REC.1398.021).

Consent for publication

The authors agree with this publication.

Open practices statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Author contributions

NM: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing. EA: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing. AH: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing. ZI: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing. AN: Resources, Software, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).