Study of the effect of dexamethasone on the neural tube development in the Swiss albino mice embryos

Abstract

Current study includes an investigation of the effects of Dexamethasone (Dex) drug on neural tube development. A total of 60 pregnant mice were allocated into four groups at random, with 15 mice each group, While the control group received injections of a Normal Saline 0.9 %, each group's members were given a specified dose of Dexamethasone drug and at different times. All of the animals received their doses through tail intravenous injection at a specific periods of pregnancy then the embryos isolated at specific embryonic days . The results of various doses of dexamethasone reveal that the number and concentration of doses have an increasing of negative effects on the neural tube development of mouse embryos, neural tube abnormalities (NTDs), Spina bifida, a convoluted body and tail, spina bifida cystica, and a porous longitudinal section in the neural tube, the general external morphological characteristics of embryos that were also influenced by Dex. Dex has a harmful effects on the development of the neural tube, particularly when the dexamethasone administered over an extended period of time and in many dosages.