All issues > Volume 43(7); 2000

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 2000;43(7):913-919. Published online July 15, 2000.

Teratogenic Effect of Dopamine on the Embryonic Chick Heart

Bon-Seok BS Koo¹, Nam Su MS Kim¹, Yong Joo YJ Kim¹, Sung Yup SY Moon¹, Hang H Lee¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Purpose
: To investigate the teratogenic potential of dopamine using a topical method of application to the developing Korean native chick embryo.
Methods
: A 5μg(0.05cc) of dopamine was applied to a 3-days-old chick embryo and the same amount of saline solution was applied as control. The embryo was then returned to the incubator and monitored. After 3 weeks the embryo was sacrificed and examined for cardiovascular malformation.
Results
: The survival rate of the dopamine-administered group was not significantly lower than that of the control group(32.2% vs 41.5%). Cardiovascular malformation rates between the two groups were 14.3% and 2.6%, respectively. The dopamine-administered group had significant higher malformation rate(P =0.049). The type of malformation was ventricular septal defect and no aortic arch anomaly. In the control group, one trabecular type was observed. In the dopamineadministered group, malformations were 3 trabecular ventricular septal defects(VSDs), 2 infracrista VSDs, 1 inlet VSD and 1 large supracrista VSD. These results were quite different from each other.
Conclusion
: We proposed that low doses of dopamine influence the cardiovascular morphogenesis through β-1 receptor weakly or through dopaminergic receptor

Keywords :Teratogenic effect, Dopamine, Chick, Embryo, Heart anomaly, Ventricular septal defect