1,1,3,3-tetrachloroacetone: teratogenicity study in mice and rabbits.

The teratogenicity of tetrachloroacetone (TCA) was evaluated in CF-1 mice and New Zealand white rabbits. Mice were given 0, 5, 15 or 50 mg/kg/day of TCA by gavage on days 6 through 15 of gestation. Rabbits were given 0, 1, 5, or 10 mg/kg/day on days 6 through 18 of gestation. The incidence of malformed fetuses was not significantly increased among mice given 5, 15 or 50 mg/kg/day of TCA. Sixteen fetuses in 3 litters in the 50 mg/kg/day group had cleft palate; they were from three dams which showed the most severe signs of toxicity, including depressed weight gain, decreased water consumption, and gastric ulceration. Dosage with 5 mg/kg/day, a level which was not toxic to the pregnant female, was not toxic to developing mouse fetuses. Fetal effects in rabbits were limited to a slight, but not statistically significant or dose related increase in the incidence of malformed fetuses. On the basis of these results, TCA does not appear to represent a unique hazard to the conceptus.