Diagnosis of induced cleft palate in rats from defective patterns of differentiation of isoenzymes.

Cleft palate was induced in 420 embryos of Sprague-Dawley rats with a single oral dose of 600 mg/kg beta-aminoproprionitrile (BAPN) on embryonal day 15, 7 hours. The cleft palate was accompanied by a pathological differentiation pattern of various isoenzymes in palatal shelves. These isoenzymes could be detected in amniotic fluid from the 16th to the 20th days of pregnancy when they also had a pathological differentiation pattern. We conclude that teratogenically induced cleft palate in rats is accompanied by a pathological differentiation pattern that can be traced by determination of isoenzymes in the palatal shelves as well as in amniotic fluid.