Drug-induced teratogenesis in vitro: inhibition of calcification by different tetracyclines.

Inhibition of calcification in embryonic bone rudiments was studied in the presence of several tetracyclines at three different concentrations. Different criteria for calcification and different concentrations of tetracyclines yielded parallel results and showed significant differences in the inhibitory action of the various compounds. The clear-cut results indicate that the test-system that was developed may be useful for the comparison of various teratogens under simplified controllable conditions.