Background: The purpose of this experimental work was to examine the osteogenesis of rats limbs under the influence of immunosuppressant azathioprine.
Material and methods: Two doses of azathioprine (50mg/kg and 80 mg/kg) were administered intraperitoneally to experimental and control pregnant rats once during the period from the 1(st) to the 14(th) day of embryogenesis. The size of the centers of ossification was measured in the limbs fixed in ethanol, cleared and stained with alizarin red.
Results: The analysis of the experimental data revealed that osteogenesis was sensitive to the influence of azathioprine administered to embryos from the 4(th) to the 13(th) day of embryogenesis. The centers of ossification in embryos treated with azathioprine on the 10 and 12(th) days were most damaged: shorter, deformed or absent.
Conclusions: The limb osteogenesis was delayed and damaged by azathioprin in the period of active organogenesis. The bigger the doze of azathioprine the more osteogenesis was delayed. The most sensitive was the skeleton of the autopod.