Amniotic Fluid Measurement in Cortisone Treated and X-Irradiated Mice. ∗

Abstract

Summary

The amount of amniotic fluid associated with mouse embryos at the normal time for palate closure was determined in cortisone treated, X-irradiated, and control embryos. Both of these cleft palate-inducing teratogens caused a significant reduction in amount of amniotic fluid. However, a few embryos destined to have cleft palate had as much amniotic fluid as most normal embryos, and a few normal embryos had as little amniotic fluid as most treated embryos. Therefore, the reduction in amniotic fluid caused by these teratogens is not the effect which is primarily responsible for development of the cleft palates.