In order to investigate the beneficial effects of 0.5 or 1.0 g/kg Korean garlic juice against the embryotoxicity of 20 mg/kg methylmercury chloride (MMC, CH3HgCl), pregnant Fisher 344 rats were simultaneously orally administered on day 7 of gestation. On day 20 of gestation the dams were laparotomized under ether anesthesia, and the fetuses were removed and examined for toxicity of methylmercury. Garlic juice depressed the toxicity in terms of some parameters. In the case of simultaneous treatment with 0.1 g/kg garlic juice and MMC, rates of increase were 17.5% in maternal body weight, 13.2% and 41.9% in fetal and litters' weight respectively, and 37.0% in fetal survival rate. Decreasing rates were 10.0% in maternal death rate, and 6.9% and 31.3% in pre- and post-implantation loss respectively. Decreasing rates of mercury levels in dams were 67.2% in liver, 57.6% in brain, 47.2% in kidney, 42.1% in spleen and 40.9% in blood. As well, decreasing rates of mercury level in fetuses were 54.9% in all body burden, 55.9% in liver, 46.7% in kidney and 37% in brain, respectively. The number of fetal ossification centers were reduced by 23.8% to 58.0% following simultaneous treatment with 1.0 g/kg garlic juice. These findings indicated that garlic juice effectively inhibited the embryotoxicity of methylmercury in pregnant Fischer 344 rats.
Animal ; Body Weight/drug effects ; Embryo/drug effects* ; Embryo Loss/prevention & control ; Embryo Loss/chemically induced ; Female ; Fetal Weight/drug effects ; Garlic* ; Methylmercury Compounds/toxicity* ; Methylmercury Compounds/pharmacokinetics ; Osteogenesis/drug effects ; Pregnancy ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred F344 ; Tissue Distribution

BACKGROUNDInhibition of the key costimulatory signals results in T cell anergy, indicating the alloantigen-specific immunologic unresponsiveness. In this study, the effect of blockage of costimulatory signal CD(86) on murine abortion-prone model was studied.

METHODSThirty CBA/J female mice cohabitated with DBA/2 male or BALB/c male mice were investigated. CBA/J x DBA/2 matings were used as the abortion-prone model, and CBA/J x BALB/c matings were used as the normal pregnant model. The abortion-prone models were divided into experimental and control groups, and the normal pregnant models were set as a normal group (10 mice in each group). The mice in the experimental group were treated with anti-mouse CD(86) monoclonal antibody (mAb) (100 microg) on day 4.5 of gestation, while the controls received irrelevant-isotype matched rat IgG(2b). As for the normal group, nothing was given to the mice. The mice were killed on day 13.5 of gestation, embryo resorption rate and the expression of transforming growth factor beta(1) (TGF-beta(1)), plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) were detected. Then the data were analyzed by Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test.

RESULTSThe embryo resorption rate in the experimental (8.2%) and normal groups (7.7%) was significantly lower than that of the control (23.5%, P < 0.05). No significant difference was detected between the experimental and normal groups (P > 0.05). The positive expression rates of TGF-beta(1) and PAI-1 proteins in the experimental and normal groups were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The positive expression rate of MMP-9 protein in the experimental and normal groups was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). No significant difference in the positive expression rates of the three proteins was detected between the experimental and normal groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSBlockage of costimulatory signal CD(86) at early pregnancy can treat uncertain recurrent spontaneous abortion by stimulating the expression of TGF-beta(1), MMP-9 and PAI-1 and reducing the embryo resorption rate.

Abortion, Habitual ; therapy ; Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; therapeutic use ; B7-2 Antigen ; immunology ; physiology ; Embryo Loss ; prevention & control ; Female ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 ; analysis ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred Strains ; Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 ; analysis ; Pregnancy ; Signal Transduction ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; analysis