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Biomedical subjects

H Kalter

Publications and source records attributed to H Kalter.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Sex, side, and severity in spontaneous malformations of fetal A/JKt mice, and their associations with each other and with fetal weight.

Cleft lip and palate (CLP) and open eyelid (OL) occur spontaneously in rather high frequencies in A/JKt mice, but vary greatly in their degree, laterality, and sex distribution. CLP occurs significantly more often in females, and OL even more often in males, than in the opposite sex. The female preponderence for CLP was largely if not entirely due to the increased rate of occurrence of left and incomplete forms of the defect, and to the excess in females heavier than the female median weight; whereas the male preponderance for OL could not be explained by any clear or major disparities of these sorts. CLP and OL occurred together more often than expected in individuals, but not in litters. There was no relation between the rate of defects in successive litters of the same female; nor was a relation detected between extent and severity of defect.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

The history of the A family of inbred mice and the biology of its congenital malformations.

The A family of inbred mice which originated in 1921, came during its early development to have incorporated into its genome the tendency to several congenital malformations, among them cleft lip and palate. These sporadic abnormalities are of interest because they closely resemble their human counterparts in morphology and development, and because they share with them a multifactorial basis. The origins and development of the A family are traced, and the abnormalities are described and the forces affecting them detailed.

Animals↗

Elimination of fetal mice with sporadic malformations by spontaneous resorption in pregnancies of older females.

The frequency of offspring with sporadic spontaneous malformations in A/JKt mice was significantly smaller in litters from older mothers than in litters from younger mothers. Simultaneously the fetal resorption rate was significantly larger in the older group apparently accounted for most, if not all, of the reduced malformation rate in their surviving offspring. It therefore seems that the aged uterus and the abnormal fetus are involved in the process by which such offspring are eliminated.

Age Factors↗

Some sources of nongenetic variability in steroid-induced cleft palate in mice.

C57BL/6JKt female mice mated to A/JKt males were each injected im with 50 mg/kg triamcinolone 13 days post-VP, and the roles of a number of nongenetic factors underlying variability in the frequency of cleft palate (CP) induced in the fetuses were analyzed. Litter size and number of young per uterine horn, overall, were not significantly related to the CP rate. But nearly one-quarter of litters (almost all larger-sized ones) contained CP rates deviating from-mostly less than-expected on a random basis. Analysis of litters with deviant CP distribution, as well as of all suitable litters, indicated that only maternal treatment-day weight was significantly associated, inversely, with CP frequency-in spite of the treatment dosage having been weight-based. There was no clear relation between the CP and resorption rates; but litters with deviant CP distribution had a significantly greater resorption rate than the others. Fetal weight was inversely related to CP rate even in litters of uniform size. Fetuses occupying uterine positions immediately caudal to those with CP had a significantly higher CP rate than those next to normals, and conceptuses caudal to resorptuses a significantly higher resorption rate than those next to surviving fetuses; but the reverse was not true: CP and resorption rates were not greater in those next to resorptuses and surviving fetuses, respectively.

Animals↗

Oncogenic response of rats with x-ray-induced microcephaly to transplacental ethylnitrosourea.

The relation of congenital malformations to tumor development was examined. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were given 200 rads of X-rays on the 15th or 16th day of gestation and injections of 10 mg ethylnitrosourea (ENU)/kg 1-4 days later, or they were irradiated or injected only. Surviving weanlings that had been irradiated had micrencephaly and other malformations. Offspring exposed to ENU only had no external deformities. By 15 months of age 16.7% of the offspring exposed to X-rays and ENU prenatally had developed neurogenic tumors, whereas 62.2% of those exposed to ENU alone had developed tumors. Those only irradiated had no tumors. Both of the former groups developed oligodendrogliomas, mixed gliomas, ependymomas, and schwannomas, but the first manifestations of tumors occurred later in the group receiving the combined treatment. This delay persisted furing the subsequent period of the study.

Animals↗

Prenatal epidemiology of spontaneous cleft lip and palate, open eyelid, and embryonic death in A/J mice.

Nongenetic bases of variability in the frequencies of spontaneous cleft lip and palate (CLP), open eyelid (OL), and fetal resorption were searched for in A/J mouse litters of prenatal ages 17-21 days post-VP and parities 1-7. The malformation rates did not decrease with advancing fetal age, and hence prenatal elimination does not account for the lower rates seen in newborns. Multivariate analysis indicated that the frequencies of CLP and resorption were inversely related to maternal age and directly related to litter size, and that the frequency of OL was related, directly, only to litter size; but that none were associated with maternal weight, parity, and several other variables. Regarding uterine location, the frequency of CLP was higher at the ovarian and cervical sites, OL higher at the cervical site, and resorption lower at the ovarian site, than elesewhere. CLP was significantly commoner in females, and OL commoner in males; also, since the percentage of males increased with parity, the frequency of CLP in males relative to that in females decreased with parity, and that of OL increased. Malformed offspring weighed less than normal ones; and the sex with the lower frequency of CLP or OL had the greater weight reduction. The results are discussed in relation to the frequency of malformations in human fetuses and newborns.

Animals↗

Some relations between teratogenesis and mutagenesis.

The nonactinic environmental agents that have been found to induce mutations in laboratory mammals are almost without exception of a single chemical class, alkylating chemicals, whereas this class is only one of the numerous sorts of environmental agents that induce congenital structural malformations. Many other types of chemical teratogens as well as nonchemical teratogens exist. This conspicuous difference between the known means of producing these phenomena reflects the fact that the mechanism by which malformations and mutations arise are for the most part distinctly different from each other. Therefore, environmentally induced malformations and mutations cannot be equated with each other and used as mutual indicators in monitoring potential harmful effects of the environment.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗

Glucocorticoid inhibition of RNA synthesis responsible for cleft palate in mice: a model.

A study was undertaken to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which glucocorticoids induce cleft palate in mice. It was hypothesized that a compound such as triamcinolone acetonide inhibits mRNA synthesis; that this results later in depressed protein synthesis; and that the latter is ultimately responsible for slowed palate formation and cleft palate. Support for the model derives from the fact that the palatine shelves rise and fuse 3-4 days after the most sensitive time of administration of steroid; RNA synthesis was markedly inhibited 6-24 hr after its administration; and coadministration of cycloheximide partially reversed the tendency toward cleft palate formation.

Animals↗