Pamir Erdincler, Ali Dalgic, Ismail Cepni, Sanli Erkan, Ali Kafadar, Mustafa Tasyurekli
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Turkey.
Neurol India. 2006 Jun;54(2):178-81.
Although folic acid deficiency is known to be one of the factors in the development of spina bifida and other neural tube defects (NTD) the exact pathophysiology still remains unclear. Progesterone is an endogenous hormone which increases significantly during pregnancy.
We aimed to study the possible negative effects of high dose progesterone on neural tube development in early chick embryos. In order to test our hypothesis, early chick embryos were exposed to physiological saline, normal and high doses of progesterone.
160 fertile, specific pathogen free white leghorn eggs (Gallus gallus), all at stage eight of development were divided into four equal groups.
The first group was incubated without any operation. The second group was injected with physiological saline. The third and fourth groups were injected with two and twenty times more than physiologic doses of progesterone respectively. After 48 hours of incubation, all embryos were analyzed for the presence of NTDs under light microscopy.
None.
At 48 hours of incubation, 84% (135/160) of the embryos passed characteristics of Stage 12 development and were included to the study. None of the eggs in the first three groups showed NTDs, whereas 81.8% (27/33) of the eggs in the fourth group showed NTDs.
Our study showed that progesterone at levels twenty times more than its physiologic level might cause NTDs. Further studies are needed to explain the mechanisms of this teratogenic effect.
尽管已知叶酸缺乏是脊柱裂和其他神经管缺陷（NTD）发生的因素之一，但其确切的病理生理学仍不清楚。孕酮是一种内源性激素，在怀孕期间会显著增加。
我们旨在研究高剂量孕酮对早期鸡胚神经管发育可能产生的负面影响。为了验证我们的假设，将早期鸡胚暴露于生理盐水、正常剂量和高剂量的孕酮中。
160枚受精的、无特定病原体的白来航鸡蛋（原鸡），均处于发育的第8阶段，被分为四组，每组数量相等。
第一组不进行任何操作直接孵化。第二组注射生理盐水。第三组和第四组分别注射比生理剂量高两倍和二十倍的孕酮。孵化48小时后，在光学显微镜下分析所有胚胎是否存在神经管缺陷。
无。
孵化48小时后，84%（135/160）的胚胎通过了第12阶段发育的特征并纳入研究。前三组的鸡蛋均未显示神经管缺陷，而第四组81.8%（27/33）的鸡蛋显示神经管缺陷。
我们的研究表明，孕酮水平比生理水平高二十倍可能会导致神经管缺陷。需要进一步研究来解释这种致畸作用的机制。
