Embriofetotoxicidade da Mimosa ophtalmocentra em ratas.

Abstract

In the world different teratogenic plants had been reported. In Brazil Mimosa tenuiflora has been reported to cause malformations in ruminants and rats. This experiment aims to test the embriotoxicity and fetotoxicity of Mimosa ophtalmocentra, a common plant in the Cariri region, in the semiarid of the state of Paraiba, Brazil, where malformations in goats and sheep are frequent. Twenty-four Winstar female rats were divided in two groups of 12 rats each. One group was fed, between day 6 and day 21 of gestation, with a ration containing 10% of M. ophtalmocentra seeds. And the other group, a control group, received only ration. All animals were euthanized on 21s t day of gestation to evaluate the reproductive performance and the presence of external and bone malformation in the fetuses. There were no significant differences between both groups in the weights gains of the rats, food and water consumption, and weight of liver, lung, heart and kidneys, suggesting that the plant is no toxic to the rats. In five rats of the experimental group all embryos were dead and in the others the fetuses were significantly lighter that the control fetuses. The placental weight of the treated rats was also significantly lower than those from the control rats. Bone malformations were observed in 66% of the fetuses of the treated group and in 14% of the control group (PO.001). These results demonstrated that M. ophtalmocentra causes embryonic death and is teratogenic for rats.