抄録
The experimental system for the production of congenital micro- or anophthalmic rats by the treatment of their mothers with CdSO_4 was reported. By the preliminary teratological study, CdSO_4 was shown to be teratogenic when administered to the mother at a dose of 3 mg/kg on gestational day 8, 9 or 10, and of 5 mg/kg on gestational day 7, 8, 9 or 10. The litters from the mothers treated with 3 mg/kg CdSO_4 on gestational day 8 exhibited eye anomalies only, without a significant reduction of the mean fetal body weight compared with control litters. A significant number of offspring from the correspondingly-treated mothers died within I day after birth or during postnatal days 1-30, but a considerable number of the pups with unilateral or bilateral micro- or anophthalmia survived without a significant reduction in the mean body weight compared with the control group. A significant number of bilateral anophthalmic pups associated with hydrocephalus were also obtained, although a large number of them died during postnatal days 1-30. The present experimental system was very suitable for the study of the developmental interrelationship between the neuronal cells in the visual pathway and the eyes.
