Hemodynamic Evaluation of Psychotic and Anticonvulsant Drugs in Chick Embryos Using Laserflo BPM 403

Maternal exposure to potential teratogens constitutes an area of great concern to pregnant women. Several authors reported increased risk of malformation (particularity cleft lip and palate, and congenital heart disease) to offspring of epileptic mothers on anticonvulsants as one of the teratogens. However, there are few experimental studies of this problem. The purpose of our experiment was to show hemodynamic changes by Laserflo after injecting these agents into chick embryo. A Laserflo perfusion monitor, used for continuous monitoring of local microvascular blood circulation, was used in this experiment. Early on day 4 of incubation, the eggs were prepared for measuring flow, volume and velocity. Three agents (0.05 mg/ml diazepam, 0.3 mg/ml phenobarbital sodium, and 0.5 mg/ml sodium valproate) were introduced through the chorio-allantoic membrane. The three parameters were measured 15 min and 30 min after injection. All three agents induced a remarkable decrease in volume, velocity and flow. This phenomenon may be related to the etiology of induced cardiovascular anomalies.