Cleft palate following prenatal food restriction in mice: association with elevated maternal corticosteroids.

Following food restriction of pregnant CD-1 mice, the maternal serum corticosteroid levels and incidence of skeletal and visceral abnormalities of the progeny were determined. Dams from the groups receiving restricted food on gestation days 6 to 15 had increased resorptions, and the progeny had delayed ossification of the skeleton with cleft palate accompanied by delayed ossification of the presphenoid bone. The incidence and intensity of these changes was correlated with the level of food restriction. The incidence of cleft palate for progeny from dams receiving 4.0 to 2.5 g of feed per day ranged from 6.3% to 100.0%, respectively. Serum corticosteroid levels of pregnant control and food restricted dams were similar on gestation day 10, but the levels of food restricted dams were 6 to 10 times greater than controls on gestation day 15. Thus cleft palate, delayed skeletal ossification, and increased resorptions are predictably produced by food restriction of CD-1 mice and were highly correlated with the elevated endogenous serum corticosteroid levels.