Excessive stimulation of Serotonin2 (5-HT2) receptors during late development of chicken embryos causes decreased embryonic motility, interferes with hatching, and induces herniated umbilici

Voltage associated with spontaneous embryonic motility in the developing chicken: An automated characterization during mid-late embryogenesis

“…This improved method could enhance behavioral toxicology and embryology studies in avian species. We have used the advantages afforded by these updated methods in our recent efforts to partially characterize functional consequences of agents (e.g., opiate withdrawal, cocaine, serotonin receptor agonists and antagonists) that can modify the actions of serotonin and its receptors during development (Bollweg & Sparber 1996;Sparber et al, 1992;Sparber, Rizzo, & Berra, 1996).…”

Prenatal Opiate Withdrawal Activates the Chick Embryo Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis and Dilates Vitelline Blood Vessels via Serotonin2 Receptors

“…On E14 and E17, approximately 16 to 24 h before precipitation of withdrawal, the 5-HT 2 antagonist ritanserin HCl (Sigma/RBI, Natick, MA; now distributed by Sigma-Aldrich) or its vehicle, 0.1 M tartaric acid, was injected into eggs containing embryos. The ritanserin dose was 0.9 mg/kg of egg weight, a dose that has no toxicity at these ages (Bollweg et al, 1998;Schrott et al, 1999) but is effective in blocking excess 5-HT 2 activation in the chick embryo (Sparber et al, 1996). Withdrawal was precipitated with Nx on E18 as in experiment 1.…”

“…At these ages the chick HPA axis is functional (Bordone et al, 1997) and sensitive to other drug-induced changes (Larson et al, 2001). Alterations in blood vessel diameter also cause pathology at these embryonic ages (Sparber et al, 1996;Zhang et al, 1998).…”