The development of pre-implantation mouse embryos under the influence of sublethal doses of cadmium chloride on the maternal organism

Introduction. Cadmium (CD) is a heavy metal widely distributed in the environment, when it enters the human body, it leads to the development of various diseases.

The aim of this work was to study the effect of sublethal doses of cadmium chloride on the preimplantation development of mouse embryos in vivo.

Material and methods. During the first three days of pregnancy, female mice were injected with 10 μM cadmium chloride (CdCl₂). On the fourth day of the experiment, the embryos were explanted from the uterus and assessed development by the number of morules and blastocysts in each group and the number of blastomeres in the control and exposed embryos.

Results. Embryos exposed to cadmium chloride in utero passed the initial stages of cleavage and blastocyst formation faster than the control embryos. At the blastocyst stage, the rate of cleavage of exposed and control embryos statistically did not differ.

Limitations. The influence of the toxicant was assessed only on preimplantation mice embryos with intraperitoneal administration of the drug to mothers and in a single dose. Studies of mouse embryos at the postimplantation period of development would reveal in more detail the effect of the drug on embryogenesis.

Conclusion. Injections of sublethal doses of cadmium chloride to female mice at the debut of pregnancy force the development of embryos to the blastocyst stage.

Compliance with ethical standards. The conducted studies met the requirements of the Ethical Committee for the Use of Laboratory Animals, adopted by the Local Ethical Committee of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “IEM”, protocol No. 2/21 dated May 27, 2021.

Conflict of interest. The author declare no conflict of interest.

Funding. The study was not sponsored.

Received: April 24, 2023 / Accepted: July 29, 2023 / Published: August 30, 2023