Neural tube and other developmental anomalies in the guinea pig following maternal hyperthermia during early neural tube development

Abstract

Guinea pigs were exposed to hyperthermia for 1 hr once or twice on day 11, 12, 13, or 14 (E11-E14) of pregnancy. The mean rectal temperatures were elevated by 3.4 degrees C-4.0 degrees C. This treatment resulted in a marked elevation of rates of resorption and developmental defects in embryos examined at day E23. The defects observed were those affecting the neural tube (NTD) (exencephaly, encephaloceles, and microphthalmia), kyphosis/scoliosis, branchial arch defects, and pericardial edema. Embryos with NTD and kyphosis/scoliosis have not been found among newborn guinea pigs to date following maternal heat exposure on days E12-E14. It appears that embryos with these defects are filtered out by resorption or abortion by days E30-E35.

Ocular disease in the guinea pig (Cavia porcellus): a survey of 1000 animals

“…8. Previous reports have documented anophthalmos as a heritable trait, 22 and as occurring after pyrexia during gestation, 23 but no such previous history was apparent for the animal affected in this study. While blindness appears not to be an obstacle to a happy healthy guinea pig life, the ocular surface irritation occasioned by trichiasis as seen in Texel cavies such as those in Fig.…”

Maternal use of hot tub and major structural birth defects

“…Experimental studies in mice and guinea pigs have revealed that immersion in a hot bath or isolation in a thermal box during early pregnancy increases the risk of many birth defects, including NTDs, kyphosis or scoliosis, branchial arch defects, and pericardial edema (Cawdell-Smith et al, 1992;Shiota, 1988). In general, the risk of birth defects increases if the body temperature increases 2.0 to 2.58C or more above the normal resting temperature for the experimental animals (Edwards et al, 1995); this is equivalent to a temperature of 39.0 to 39.58C (102.2 to 103.18F) in humans.…”

Maternal report of fever from cold or flu during early pregnancy and the risk for noncardiac birth defects, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997–2011

“…The possibility of a teratogenic effect of fever was first postulated by researchers conducting ecologic studies of influenza and birth defects (Janerich, 1971;MacMahon & Yen, 1971). Stronger evidence of an association between maternal exposure to hyperthermia and an increased occurrence of birth defects was subsequently provided by animal studies (Cawdell-Smith, Upfold, Edwards, & Smith, 1992;Edwards, Shiota, Smith, & Walsh, 1995;Finnell, Moon, Abbott, Golden, & Chernoff, 1986) and epidemiologic studies of fever and neural tube defects (NTDs) (Kurppa, Holmberg, Kuosma, Aro, & Saxen, 1991;Li et al, 2007;Lynberg, Khoury, Lu, & Cocian, 1994;Medveczky, Puho', & Czeizel, 2004;Milunsky et al, 1992;Moretti, Benjamin, Fried, & Koren, 2005;Shaw, Todoroff, Velie, & Lammer, 1998;Shaw et al, 2002;Suarez, Felkner, & Hendricks, 2004;Yin et al, 2011;Zhang and Cai, 1993). A recent systematic review by Dreier, Andersen, and Berg-Beckhoff (2014) noted that the literature supports an association between maternal fever and an increased risk of birth defects, with the strongest associations for NTDs, oral clefts and cardiac defects.…”