Selenium poisoning and embryogenesis: light and electron microscopic studies of the heart
The effects of selenium (selenous acid dissolved in saline and injected into eggs at Day 4 at doses ranging from 0.0007 to 0.05 mg/egg) on chick embryos were analyzed at Days 6 and 11. Control eggs were injected with an equivalent volume of saline (0.1 ml/egg). In all, 288 eggs were used for this study. For gross and light microscopic studies, the observations were made at Day 11 of incubation. Gross malformations included reduced body size, twisted limbs, twisted neck, everted viscera, edema, ectopic heart, and body hemorrhage. Light microscopic studies of the heart showed ventricular septal defects and thin ventricular walls in 2 out of 16 embryos. Electron microscopic studies of the heart were made at Days 6 and 11 of incubation. Several alterations characteristic of cell damage were observed. These included extensive vacuolation, poorly developed and disorganized cristae in mitochondria, partial or total disorganization of the myofibrils, whorls of membranous structures that looked like myelin figures, and increase in the number of membrane-bound lysosomal bodies. The reported experiments indicate that selenium poisoning induces changes in the embryonic heart.
- Research Organization:
- New Jersey Medical School, Newark
- OSTI ID:
- 6783619
- Journal Information:
- Environ. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: Environ. Res.; (United States) Vol. 23:1; ISSN ENVRA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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560305* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Vertebrates-- (-1987)
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGY
BIRDS
BODY
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
CHICKENS
CYTOLOGY
DATA
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
EGGS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELEMENTS
EMBRYOS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOWL
HEART
INFORMATION
MALFORMATIONS
MICROSCOPY
MORPHOLOGY
NUMERICAL DATA
ONTOGENESIS
OPTICAL MICROSCOPY
ORGANS
PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES
SELENIUM
SEMIMETALS
SURVIVAL CURVES
TERATOGENESIS
TOXICITY
VERTEBRATES