furazolidone brands

Molecular formula: C8H7N3O5

Furazolidone and its related free radical products are believed to bind DNA and induce cross-links. Bacterial DNA is particularly susceptible to this drug leading to high levels of mutations (transitions and transversions) in the bacterial chromosome. We are studying the development of unilateral malformations. Several chemicals elicit right sided limb defects both in vivo and in vitro. For example, nitroheterocyclics such as furazolidone (FZ) induce asymmetric defects in rat embryos in vitro. Potential mechanisms include asymmetric drug delivery; intrinsic difference between the cells of the left and right limbs; physiological asymmetry (e.g. in tissue oxygen), secondary to another primary asymmetry (e.g. in limb vasculature). In one series of experiments, we have investigated the role of an asymmetry in drug delivery and/or tissue oxygen. 10.3 days embryonic age rat embryos were explanted and cultured for two hours to allow 'recovery'. Embryos were then exteriorised (removal from yolk sac and amnion, retaining intact circulation) and cultured in the presence of 20 uM FZ with 5% O2 for 24h. The assumption was that exteriorisation would abolish any drug delivery or tissue oxygen asymmetry, by direct embryonic exposure to the medium. As previously described, FZ induced right sided defects (limb, eye and fore-brain) in 42% of intact yolk sac embryos. In contrast, exposure of exteriorised embryos to FZ induced a 34% incidence of abnormalities which were identical, but exclusively left sided. The results do not support a simple hypothesis that asymmetric drug delivery or tissue oxygen levels are responsible for the unilateral defects. We are investigating two potential explanations: a) Exteriorisation specifically reverses limb bud susceptibility, b) A secondary asymmetry e.g. mitochondrial maturity is altered by exteriorisation which then acts to invert the limb response. In a second series of experiments, we have also investigated a possible primary asymmetry in the development of the limb vasculature, using whole mount in situ hybridisation with a probe specific for early endothelial cell precursors (flk-1). The results are being analysed using confocal microscopy to image the limb vascular architecture.

Source: PubChem (NCBI) · compound 5323714