STUDY ON THE EMBRYOFETO-TOXICITY OF CITRAL IN THE RAT

Citral, 3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadien-1-al, found in the essential oils of a large variety of useful plants, is used as a scenting agent in hous ehold products, as a fragrance in cosmetics, and as a food flavouring additive. This study was undertaken to investigate the embryofeto-toxi c potential of citral in the rat. Citral (60; 125; 250; 500 and 1000 m g/kg) in corn oil was given orally to Wistar rats from day 6 to 15 of pregnancy. Caesarean sections were carried out on day 21 of pregnancy, and the number of resorptions and implantation sites were recorded. F etuses were weighed, examined for external malformations, and fixed fo r visceral examination, or cleared and stained with Alizarin Red S for skeleton evaluation. A transient decrease in weight gain from days 6 to 11 of gestation at the lowest doses, and a reduction in body weight minus uterine weight at term at the highest doses, indicated that cit ral was maternally toxic over the dose range tested. A slight but stat istically significant increase in the ratio of resorptions per implant ations was observed with 60 and 125 mg/kg body weight. Doses higher th an 125 mg/kg reduced dose-dependently the ratio of pregnant per mated female. Signs of fetal growth retardation and a higher incidence of mi nor skeletal abnormalities were found in doses higher than 60 mg/kg. N o increase in the frequency of visceral anomalies was found at any dos e level, but an increase in fetal spleen weight was observed in doses higher than 125 mg/kg. Therefore, data presented in this paper indicat e that the no-observed adverse effect level for embryofeto-toxicity is lower than 60 mg citral/kg body weight p.o.