[Developmental eye abnormalities in mouse fetuses induced by retinoic acid].

To clarify the relationship between neural crest cells and ocular anomalies, pregnant mice were treated intraperitoneally with 12.5 mg/kg retinoic acid suspended in corn oil on day 7 of pregnancy (RA group). Control mice were given an equal volume of corn oil (control group). Each group consisted of 5 mother mice, and the offsprings were removed on day 18 of gestation. The fetal mortality was 46.3% in the RA group and 2.2% in the control group. Twenty-two live fetuses of the RA group and 45 of the control group were grossly observed, and the eyes were examined histologically. In the RA group, gross malformations such as microphthalmos (95.5%), cleft lip and palate (36.4%), and central nervous system anomalies (31.8%) were observed, and in the control group, malformations such as microphthalmos (6.7%), central nervous system anomalies (2.2%), and low set ears (2.2%) were seen. Histological examination revealed microphthalmos (47.7%), anophthalmos (38.6%), faulty closure of the embryonic fissure (36.4%), developmental abnormalities of the vitreous (34.1%), aphakia (22.7%), goniodysgenesis (18.2%), and faulty separation of the lens vesicle (15.9%) in the RA group. These anomalies arose from abnormal neural crest cell migration induced by retinoic acid. They were detected in only 3.3, 1.1, 3.3, 8.9, 1.1, 2.2 and 2.2%, respectively of the control group.