ICR-JCL pregnant mice were injected intraperitoneally with 50mg/kg body weight of cytosine arabinoside on day 14 of pregnancy. The initial pathological changes of the cerebral pallium were examined by scanning electron microscope. Three hours after injection, a few degenerating matrix cells with many hollows on the surface were already observed. The degenerating matrix cells became globular in shape by diminution of bipolar processes and 12 hours after injection they exhibited a sponge-like appearance. Macrophages migrating through the blood vessel into the matrix layer were observed and then the macrophages which had phagocytized matrix cell debris were increasing rapidly. On the lateral ventricular surface, erythrocytes and supraependymal cells (type II supraependymal cell according to Coates (1975, 1978) ) gradually increased after 3 hours. After 6 hours, apical blebs with small hollows on the surface became larger and more numerous, thus showing severe desolation of the ventricular surface. At 24 hours, erythrocytes and supraependymal cells had decreased and number of microvilli had also decreased in comparison to those in the control. Some supraependymal cells phagocytizing cell debris were observed. Macrophages and supraependymal cells cleaned up by phagocytosis of the matrix cell debris but there was a difference in size and shape between both cells.

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Mobius syndrome, glossopalatine ankylosis syndrome, aglossia-adactylia syndrome, Poland-Mobius syndrome and Charlie-M. syndrome are known as syndromes associated with microglossia and ectrodactyly. Among these syndromes only Mobius syndrome has been frequently reported in Japan. The other syndromes have never been reported in Japan as far as we have been able to discover. We reported three cases with microglossia and ectrodactyly. Case I was a five-month-old boy diagnosed as aglossia-adactylia syndrome associated with a band between left upper palate and left lower alveolar ridge. Case 2 was a seven-day-old girl diagnosed as glossopalatine ankylosis syndrome with digital hypoplasia. Case 3 was a one-month-old boy diagnosed as Mobius syndrome associated with ectrodactyly and syndactyly of fingers and transverse amputation of the lower limbs. All three cases were sporadic and had normal chromosomal karyotype.

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CL/Fr mice were fasted for 24 or 48 hours in various stages during midpregnancy, and the incidence of intrauterine death and cleft lip in live fetuses were examined at term. Cleft lip occurrence and intrauterine death were not changed by 24-hr-fasting. By 48-hr-fasting, intrauterine death increased significantly, but cleft lip frequencies were not changed in groups treated on other than days 8-9. In the group treated on days 8-9, the cleft lip frequency decreased significantly to 14% (control, 29%), although intrauterine death was not different from the control. This suggested that the cleft lip embryos were preferentially killed by maternal fasting on days 8-9 of pregnancy.

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It is known that in mice and rats 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) induce malformations of digits including preaxial polydactyly. Pdn/Pdn fetuses show preaxial polydactyly of duplicated or triplicated metacarpal/ metatarsal type in the fore- and hindlimbs. Pdn/+ offspring have one extra-digit preaxially in the hindlimb. When treated with subteratogenic dose of 5-FU on day 10 of gestation, the extra metatarsals of Pdn/Pdn decreased in number, and preaxial polydactyly of distal phalangeal type changed to that of proximal phalangeal type in Pdn/+. When treated with teratogenic doses of 5-FU or Ara-C on day 10, the number of extra digits decreased and even preaxial oligodactyly was observed in Pdn/Pdn, while preaxial polydactyly of metacarpal/metatarsal type appeared in Pdn/+ and +/+. When treated with teratogenic doses of 5-FU or Ara-C on day 11 , extra digits of the preaxial side decreased in number and preaxial oligodactyly was observed in Pdn/Pdn. In the observation of cell death patterns by means of vital stain, Pdn/+ and +/+ treated with teratogenic dose of 5-FU on day 10 showed extensive necrosis in the preaxial mesoderm of the footplate and subsequently showed similar cell death pat-tern to non-treated Pdn/Pdn. In Pdn/Pdn treated with teratogenic dose of 5-FU on day 10, extensive necrosis in the preaxial mesoderm was marked and disappeared later than that of Pdn/+ or +/+.

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The teratogenic susceptibility to thalidomide was compared in Japanese White (JW) and JW-NIBS (NIBS) rabbits. No abortions were found in Group JJ (JW × JW), but they occurred in Groups NN (NIBS × NIBS) and NJ (NIBS × JW) with a higher frequency than in Group JN (JW × NIBS). External head anomalies such as holoprosencephaly, anencephaly and hypoplasia of ala nasi displayed a high frequency in Group NN, but not in Group JJ. In Groups JN and NJ, the frequency of holoprosencephaly and hypoplasia of ala nasi was higher in Group JN than in Group NJ. Anencephaly was found with the same frequency in Groups NJ and JN. Patroclinous sensitivity factors from NIBS males were considered to account for the high frequency of holoprosencephaly and hypoplasia of ala nasi.

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