Ultrastructural changes of the early visceral yolk sac layer of mouse embryos after maternal injection of trypan blue

Summary The ultrastructural features of the early visceral yolk sac epithelium of normal mouse embryos on day 9 were compared to those whose mothers had received a single subcutaneous injection of 100 mg/kg trypan blue on day 8. The following results were obtained: In normal embryos the visceral yolk sac cells are predominantly characterized by numerous membrane bounded inclusions localized in the supranuclear cytoplasm. In embryos of animals treated with trypan blue, at about 12h after injection large single and only partly membrane bounded vacuoles are observed occupying most of the apical cytoplasm. Up to 24h after injection large cytoplasmic areas are seen which are in a stage of autodigestion possibly due to leakage of the vacuolar content. These alterations are exclusively limited to the visceral yolk sac epithelium whereas in the cells of the embryonic part, e.g. head process, no changes could be found. The observations are discussed in relation to the mechanism of the teratogenic activity of trypan blue.This investigation has kindly been supported by a grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Schl 166/1)