Effects of oral aluminum administration on perinatal and postnatal development in rats.

Aluminum nitrate was administered by gavage to four groups of pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats from the 14th day of gestation through 21 days of lactation at doses of 0, 180, 360 and 720 mg/kg/day. These doses did not produce overt fetotoxic effects. However, the growth of the offspring was significantly less from birth and during all the period of lactation for the higher doses of aluminum nitrate. Although very few toxic effects could be observed for the 180 mg/kg/day group (or 13 mg Al/kg/day), this quantity is similar to the amounts ingested by some people in special medical treatment (10 mg Al/kg/day). Therefore, it would seem that high amounts of aluminum should not be ingested during the periods of gestation.