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María Fernanda Cavieres,¹ James Jaeger,² and Warren Porter^2,3

¹Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile; ²Department of Zoology and ³Environmental Toxicology Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Abstract

We investigated the developmental toxicity in mice of a common commercial formulation of herbicide containing a mixture of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) , mecoprop, dicamba, and inactive ingredients. Pregnant mice were exposed to one of four different doses of the herbicide mixture diluted in their drinking water, either during preimplantation and organogenesis or only during organogenesis. Litter size, birth weight, and crown-rump length were determined at birth, and pups were allowed to lactate and grow without additional herbicide exposure so that they could be subjected to additional immune, endocrine, and behavioral studies, the results of which will be reported in a separate article. At weaning, dams were sacrificed, and the number of implantation sites was determined. The data, although apparently influenced by season, showed an inverted or U-shaped dose-response pattern for reduced litter size, with the low end of the dose range producing the greatest decrease in the number of live pups born. The decrease in litter size was associated with a decrease in the number of implantation sites, but only at very low and low environmentally relevant doses. Fetotoxicity, as evidenced by a decrease in weight and crown-rump length of the newborn pups or embryo resorption, was not significantly different in the herbicide-treated litters. Key words: 2, 4-D, developmental toxicity, dicamba, embryo implantation, fetal loss, herbicide mixtures, mecoprop. Environ Health Perspect 110:1081-1085 (2002) . [Online 17 September 2002]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2002/110p1081-1085cavieres/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to W.P. Porter, Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 250 N. Mills Street, Madison, WI 53706 USA. Telephone: (608) 262-0029 ; 262-1719. Fax: (608) 262-9083. E-mail: wporter@mhub.zoology.wisc.edu

We thank M. Carberry, K. Cooks, T. Lee, D. Jones, M. McCarville, N. Qadir, B. Schutten, M. Soin, and K. Wibe, undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) , for their help in experimental assays and animal care.

This work was supported by the Davis Fund from the UW Zoology Department, the Environmental Toxicology Fund at the UW Foundation, the UW Graduate School, and grants from Gardens Alive, Inc., the Lumpkin Foundation, the Cavaliere Foundation, and the UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems.

Received 1 February 2002 ; accepted 20 March 2002.

Tables 1 and 2 were corrected on 10 October, 2003.