Genetic differences in the frequency of acetazolamide-induced ectrodactyly in the mouse exhibit directional dominance of relative embryonic resistance.

Eleven of the common inbred strains of the mouse were surveyed for their teratogenic response to acetazolamide that was administered three times per os at 1,000 mg/kg (9 A.M. and 4 P.M. on day 9 and 9 A.M. on day 10). The products of conception were examined for gross malformations on day 15. One strain, SJL/J, exhibited maternal toxicity to the dosage regime and was excluded from the survey. Five strains exhibited significantly increased resorption rates after treatment. All strains responded with the expected malformation of postaxial forelimb ectrodactyly with a right-sided predominance. Nine of the strains could be assigned to one of four mutually exclusive classes of frequency of ectrodactyly and the tenth strain (BALB/cByJ) showed overlap between the two intermediate classes. The data suggest major genes determine the difference in sensitivity to ectrodactyly rather than a polygenic mode of inheritance. Induced cleft lip was found in four strains and one of these strains, SWR/J, exhibited a significantly higher frequency. The strain differences in sensitivity to induced resorption, forelimb ectrodactyly, and cleft lip were genetically independent. A reciprocal cross study was conducted with five of the strains from the four classes of frequency of ectrodactyly response in order to determine gene action. A significant maternal effect on the ectrodactyly response was found only with one of the strain pairs in the ten sets of reciprocal crosses with the five strains. When there was a significant difference between two strains, the F1 embryos exhibited dominance of relative resistance to ectrodactyly. The directional dominance of relative resistance to acetazolamide-induced ectrodactyly suggests that regulatory genes control the embryonic differences in frequency of ectrodactyly response to acetazolamide. By analogy with other metric traits of development that exhibit directional dominance, the genetic variation in ectrodactyly response that has been observed so far in the mouse embryo may not be involved with the primary target of acetazolamide teratogenesis.