Induction of a cytoplasmic factor increasing resistance to the teratogenic effect of 6‐aminonicotinamide in mice

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Abstract
It was previously shown that maternal treatment with 6‐aminonicotinamide (6‐AN) produces a higher frequency of cleft palate (CP) in A/J than C57BL/6J mice. C57BL mice are more resistant to 6‐AN when fed a high niacin diet (Purina Lab Chow) than a low niacin diet (Purina Breeder Chow). This component of the strain difference appears to be cytoplasmically transmitted. The present study showed that when C57BL mice were transferred from the low niacin to the high niacin diet for 1 h before 6‐AN treatment the CP frequency dropped to the value in offspring of females raised on the high niacin diet and remained at this low level when the time on this diet before treatment was increased to as much as 1 month. In A mice the response was not as immediate as in C57BLs, and as the time the females were on the high niacin diet before treatment was increased the CP frequency rose again. It is suggested that niacin in the diet functions as an inducer for an enzyme system controlled by a cytoplasmic factor that increases the resistance of the organism to the CP‐producing effect of 6‐AN.