Amelioration of Cadmium-Produced Teratogenicity and Genotoxicity in Mice Given Arthrospira maxima (Spirulina) Treatment

Table 5

Effects of maternal exposure to cadmium (Cd) and Arthrospira  maxima (AM) on fetal skeletal morphology of mice.

Treatment; (mg/kg)	Examined fetuses	Number of fetuses with delayed ossification				Fused
		Head	Vertebrae
			Sternebrae	Cervical	Sacra	Ribs	Vertebrae
Water	33	0^b	0^b	0^b	0^b	0^b	0^b
Tween	32	0^b	0^b	0^b	0^b	0^b	0^b
AM (800)	32	0^b	0^b	0^b	0^b	0^b	0^b
Cd (1.5)	30	16 (73.33)^a	9 (30)^a	7 (23.33)^a	8 (26.66)^a	7 (23.33)^a	13 (43.33)^a
AM + Cd (200)	31	5 (25.80)^a,b	6 (19.35)^a,b	6 (19.35)^a,b	5 (16.12)^a,b	6 (19.35)^a,b	9 (29.03)^a,b
AM + Cd (400)	31	2 (9.67)^a,b	4 (12.90)^a,b	6 (19.35)^a,b	5 (16.12)^a,b	4 (12.90)^a,b	7 (22.58)^a,b
AM + Cd (800)	30	0^b	2 (6.66)^a,b	3 (10)^a,b	2 (6.66)^a,b	2 (6.66)^a,b	2 (6.66)^a,b

The determinations were made with 8 pregnant mice per group. Values inside parenthesis represent percentage. ^aStatistically significant difference with respect to the control value and ^bwith respect to the value of Cd treated mice. 𝑋²-test followed by Fisher’s exact test; 𝑃<0.05.