Isolated cleft palate in A/J mice after transitory exposure to drinking‐water deprivation and low humidity in pregnancy

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Abstract
When pregnant A/J mice were deprived of drinking water and exposed to circulating dehumidified (dry) air for 72 h starting at gestation day 12, 39% of fetuses alive on day 17 had isolated cleft palate (CP), whereas treatment begun at day 11 gave 23% CP and at day 13 6% CP. A 48‐h exposure to dry air with deprivation of drinking water gave 7% CP. Deprivation of water alone for 72 h resulted in 12% CP and for 48 h gave 2% CP, not significantly above the 1% CP in controls. All treatments increased the fetal death rate but there was no evidence of an effect on the rate of cleft lip with or without cleft palate, a spontaneous defect in A/J mice. Extraembryonic membranes of day‐17 fetuses, after treatment from days 12–15, frequently showed strongly benzidine‐positivt pigment in the yolk‐sac cavity alongside the vitelline vessels. Only rarely vere small amounts of pigment observed in controls. It was thought to be old fetal blood. Fetal red cell and serum loss are discussed in relation to CP resulting from water deprivation and other teratogenic treatments.