The influence of propanediol-1,3 on the development of the legs, wings and lower beak of the chick embryo.

In seven series of 31-34 chick embryos each, the influence of the position of the egg during incubation and of the administration of 0.05 ml propanediol-1,3 on the 5th day of incubation on the development and growth of the limbs and beak were studied. Isotonic saline injected embryos served as controls. The embryos were sacrificed at the age of 15 days. Incubation of the egg in a vertical position, with the air chamber pointing upward, proved to result in a slight, through significant reduction in the length of the limbs and beak. Propanediol was highly toxic if injected in the immediate vicinity of the embryo. If injected at some distance from the embryo, either into the air chamber or into the yolk, the agent proved to be teratogenic: measurements showed a considerable retardation of the longitudinal growth of the limbs and beak, the latter being a parrot beak in 60 per cent of the cases, whereas both the tibia and the metatarsals were, moreover, bent posteriorward. Histological studies of the tibia showed an underdevelopment of the periosteal bone collar and, at the angle of the bone, a replacement of the posterior part of this collar by endochondral bone trabeculae. The abnormalities observed are dissimilar to those demonstrated in hereditary congenital chondrodystrophy and in micromelic conditions induced by insulin or sulfonamides.