Protective Effects Of Vitamin E On Developmental Toxicity Of Common Environmental Factors: An Evaluation Of Chick Heart Micromass Culture Assay

This study was aimed to find out whether the chick cardiomyocyte micromass (MM) system could be employed to predict the teratogenecity of common environmental factors and antioxidant (Vitamin E) by blind study. White Leghorn 5-day-old embryo hearts were dissected and trypsinized to produce a cardiomyocyte cell suspension in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium. The cultures were incubated at 37⁰C in 5% CO₂ in air, and observations were made at 24, 48 and 144 hours, for the detection of beating. Cellular viability was assessed by using the resazurin assay and cell protein content was assessed by the kenacid blue assay.  These observations were detected by principle investigator as well as another investigator who was unaware about the test chemicals used.  The retinoic acid, ethanol and cadmium chloride significantly reduced the beating, cell viability and cell protein content in micromass cultures. It was also observed that vitamin E when added to these chemicals, did not significantly reduced cell activity and beating, whilst not affecting total cell number. The results demonstrate the potential of the chick cardiomyocyte MM culture assay to identify teratogens/embryotoxins that alter functionality, which may result in a teratogenic outcome.  This could form part of a screen for developmental toxicity related to cardiac development and function.