Teratogenic Effect of Trypan Blue on the Developing Chick.

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Abstract
Eggs of the White Leghorn chickens were injected with a 0.1% saline solution of trypan blue 0.1cc into the yolk sac at 24 hours or 0.05cc into the subgerminal cavity at 24 or 36 hours. Yolk sac injections caused a mortality of 74% and resulted in malformation of 52% of the survivors on the 10th day. Subgerminal cavity injections caused 73% mortality at 24 hours and 45% mortality at 36 hours. Of the surviving embryos at 10 and 12 days, approximately 75% in each group were abnormal. The abnormalities were essentially the same after both types of treatment and included, in order of incidence, rumplessness, hind limb defects, beak defects, eye defects, and gastroschisis. Results indicate that, at least in the chick, trypan blue is capable of teratogenic action directly on the embryo and does not require as an intermediary site the maternal organism or a placenta.