DOES ALUMINUM EXPOSURE OF PREGNANT ANIMALS LEAD TO ACCUMULATION IN MOTHERS OR THEIR OFFSPRING

There is concern that environmental and dietary aluminum (Al) might ca use developmental toxicity. To better understand this concern, we revi ewed published studies which administered Al compounds to pregnant ani mals and measured accumulation of At in mother, fetus, or born offspri ng. A total of 7 studies were identified which administered Al during gestation and evaluated fetal accumulation. Another 7 studies administ ered Al at least until birth and then evaluated accumulation in mother s and/or pups. These 14 studies included 4 different Al compounds (hyd roxide, chloride, lactate, and citrate) administered by 4 different ro utes (gavage, feed, intraperitoneal injection, and subcutaneous inject ion) with total doses ranging from 13.5 to 8,400 mg/kg. Fetal Al level s were not increased in 6 of 7 studies and pup Al levels were not incr eased in 4 of 5 studies in which they were measured. Maternal Al level s were increased in some studies, but there was no consistent pattern of organ-specific accumulation and several positive studies were contr adicted by subsequent reports from the same laboratory. Placental leve ls were increased in 6 of 9 studies and were greater than correspondin g fetal levels. The weight of evidence in these studies suggests that environmental and dietary Al exposures are unlikely to pose risks of A l accumulation to pregnant animals or their fetuses. (C) 1998 Wiley-Li ss, Inc.