Comparison of Dexamethasone and Hydrocortisone teratogenic effect on chick embryo

Abstract

Objective: Dexamethasone and Hydrocortisone are two glucocorticoids widely used to alleviate moderate to acute inflammation. But due to their different pharmacokinetics, potential of these drugs in initiation of abnormalities is not equivalent with their pharmacologic activities. Their different pharmacokinetics of absorption, distribution and metabolism result in production of different teratogenic effects on the embryo that may not be parallel to pharmacological potencies. Methods: After an incubation of 20 days, we removed the chick embryos from the eggs and studied the effects of drugs in development of abnormalities like embryonic toxicity. Findings: Results of this investigation showed that dexamethasone and hydrocortisone induce remarkable malformation in the doses of 4*10-4 mg and 2*10-1 mg respectively. Conclusion: This study showed that in the same dose dexamethasone is 500 times more potent than hydrocortisone in term of teratogenicity.

Keywords

• dexamethasone
• hydrocortisone
• teratogenic
• chick embryo
• toxicity