Journal
BIRTH DEFECTS RESEARCH PART B-DEVELOPMENTAL AND REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY
Volume 80, Issue 2, Pages 84-97Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/bdrb.20106
Keywords
rodent estrous cycle; vaginal epithelial cell structure; toxicological studies
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
While an evaluation of the estrous cycle in laboratory rodents can be a useful measure of the integrity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian reproductive axis, it can also serve as a way of insuring that animals exhibiting abnormal cycling patterns are disincluded from a study prior to exposure to a test compound. Assessment of vaginal cytology in regularly cycling animals also provides a means to establish a comparable endocrine milieu for animals at necropsy. The procedure for obtaining a vaginal smear is relatively non-invasive and is one to which animals can become readily accustomed. It requires few supplies, and with some experience the assessments can be easily performed in fresh, unstained smears, or in fixed, stained ones. When incorporated as an adjunct to other endpoint measures, a determination of a female's cycling status can contribute important information about the nature of a toxicant insult to the reproductive system. In doing so, it can help to integrate the data into a more comprehensive mechanistic portrait of the effect, and in terms of risk assessment, may provide some indication of a toxicant's impact on human reproductive physiology. Birth Defects Res (Part B) 80:84-97, 2007. Published 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.(dagger)
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available