In vitro effects of adriamycin: a dose-response study.

The in vivo effects of adriamycin (ADR) on the mouse and rat embryos are well described in the literature. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the in vitro effects of ADR. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ADR on the developing mouse embryo and to identify a dose of ADR, which could be used for further studies of ADR effects in vitro. CD1 mouse embryos were collected at day 8.5 post conception. They were cultured in the presence of different doses of ADR (0, 125, 250, 375 and 500 microM). After 24 h, the culture was stopped and the embryos (n = 77) were scored morphologically using the Brown-Fabro scoring system and the mean score for each organ was calculated. Dose-response plots were generated and the effective dose 50 (ED50) for each organ was identified from the plots. The effects of ADR on the developing embryo were found to be dose related and there is a dose-response relationship in most of the plots. The dose-response plots were found to be parallel for some organs. A dose of 250 microM ADR was identified as the appropriate dose for further in vitro studies. The effects of ADR on the embryos were dose related and there is a dose-response relationship in most of the developing systems. The presence of parallel dose-response plots for some regions is suggestive of similar mechanism of action of ADR on these regions. A dose of 250 microM of ADR was identified for the first time in the literature and could be used for further studies of the effects of ADR on the mouse foregut in vitro.