Teratogenic action of hypolipidemic agents: an in vitro study with postimplantation rat embryos.

Two hypolipidemic agents known to be embryotoxic and teratogenic in vivo were found also to cause developmental abnormalities when added to the culture serum of rat embryos growing in vitro. However, development was normal when the embryos were grown in hypolipidemic serum (low in cholesterol and triglycerides) prepared from rats dosed with the hypolipidemic agents. The results indicated that it is a direct action of the agents on the embryos, and not the hypolipidemia, which is harmful to embryonic development.