RESEARCH ARTICLE
Pretreatment Effect of Folic Acid on 13-Cis-RA-Induced Cellular Damage of Developing Midfacial Processes in Cultured Rat Embryos
Rungarun Kriangkrai1, *, Suconta Chareonvit2, Sachiko Iseki3, Visaka Limwongse1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2017Volume: 11
First Page: 200
Last Page: 212
Publisher ID: TODENTJ-11-200
DOI: 10.2174/1874210601711010200
Article History:
Received Date: 24/06/2016Revision Received Date: 25/01/2017
Acceptance Date: 28/02/2017
Electronic publication date: 31/03/2017
Collection year: 2017

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objective:
Excess treatment of 13-cis-RA (Accutane®) on pregnant women induces craniofacial malformation found in infants. However, the effect of folic acid on 13-cis-RA-induced cellular damages of developing midfacial processes is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the pretreatment effect of folic acid (FA) on 13-cis-RA-induced cellular damage in developing midfacial processes in rat embryos.
Materials and Methods:
The rat embryos at developing midfacial processes were performed by whole embryo culture in vitro, in the presence of 13-cis-RA (20 µM) with or without pre-treatment of FA (100 µM). The midfacial morphogenesis score, PCNA and TUNEL assay staining were evaluated for morphogenesis, cell proliferation and apoptosis of the midfacial processes, respectively.
Results:
The 13-cis-RA-treated embryos at 24h showed atrophy of midfacial processes with significantly decreased morphogenesis score and cell proliferation, and increased apoptotic cell death. In contrast, the embryos pre-treated with FA for 18h, followed by 13-cis-RA treatment for 24h (FA-RA) showed significantly greater morphogenesis score, increased cell proliferation and lower apoptotic cell death compared to those of the 13-cis-RA-treated embryos.
Conclusion:
The results suggest that FA reduced the teratogenic effects of 13-cis-RA on midfacial process tissue. Future investigations regarding the anti-teratogenic mechanism of FA on the prevention of damages in midface processes induced by 13-cis-RA on pregnant woman are warranted.