Quaternary silsesquioxane: a developmental toxicity study in rats.

The developmental toxicity of an antimicrobial organosilicon quaternary ammonium chloride (Quaternary Silsesquioxane) was evaluated in rats. Groups of 25 pregnant CD rats were administered 100, 300, or 1000 mg/kg/day of test material by gavage as a single daily dose on Days 6 through 15 of gestation at a volume of 10 ml/kg. The control group received only corn oil as the vehicle. Cesarean examinations were performed on all females on Gestation Day 20 followed by evaluation of the fetuses for teratogenicity. Maternal effects included a slight but statistically significant increase in relative liver weights at the 1000 mg/kg/day dose level. Using these hepatic changes as an adverse effect, the maternal no observable adverse effect level for this study was identified at 300 mg/kg/day. The number of corpora lutea, implantation sites, viable fetuses, and early and late resorptions, the fetal body weights, the crown-rump length, and the gravid uterine and corrected body weights were not affected by the administration of Quat-Silsesquioxane. The occurrence of external and internal soft tissue malformations and variations and the incidences of skeletal malformations and variations in the treated groups were not significantly different from those in the control group. These results demonstrated that oral administration of Quat-Silsesquioxane as high as 1000 mg/kg/day did not produce teratogenicity or other indications of developmental toxicity in the rat conceptus.