Abstract

Cyclosporine A is an immunosuppressive agent, which is widely used for organ transplantation, autoimmune and other diseases. Cyclosporine inhibits the calcineurin and thereby causes inhibition of chondrogenesis. Cyclosporine crosses the placenta and reaches to the embryo, and thereby may affect them. Many females, that should receive cyclosporine, are in childbearing age. The objective of this study was to determine whether cyclosporine administration has any effect on weight and crown-rump length of mouse embryos. Many out bred adult mice were selected. Female mice were mated overnight with males, checked in the morning for vaginal plug. Pregnant mice were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received cyclosporine and control group received an equivalent amount of olive oil on days 7, 8, and 9 of gestation. Pregnant mice were killed and embryos were removed on days 13, 16, and 18 of gestation. The weight and crown-rump length of embryos were recorded. Comparison between two groups was made using t. test. There were highly significant differences between crown-rump length of experimental and control groups on days 16 and 18 ( P <0.05), but on day 13, crown-rump length difference was not significant. In all ages of gestation, the experimental group had less weight than the control group ( P <0.05). Results of this study indicate that cyclosporine causes low weight and low crown-rump length in mice embryos.