The adverse effects of l-methamphetamine on the development of explanted rat embryos.

The adverse effects of l-methamphetamine on the development of rat embryos were studied by means of a whole culture system. The embryos explanted at 12.5th days of gestational age were cultured for a total of 24 hours. After pre-culturing for 6 hours, 4 groups of embryos received additional culturing for 18 hours with saline or various concentrations of l-methamphetamine; 0.5, 2.0 and 5.0 mumol/dl. There was no significant difference in the survival rate among 4 groups. The groups over 2.0 mumol/dl of l-methamphetamine showed significant reduction of crown-rump length, somite number, protein content, DNA content, and protein/DNA ratio. It is suggested that over 2.0 mumol/dl of l-methamphetamine reduces the development but not the survival of rat embryos under whole culture system.