Evaluation of the effects of inhalation exposure to 1,3-dichloropropene on fetal development in rats and rabbits

Abstract 1,3-Dichloropropene (DCP), which has found widespread use as a soil fumigant, was evaluated for its potential effects on embryonal and fetal development in rats and rabbits. Pregnant Fischer 344 rats and New Zealand White rabbits were exposed to 0, 20, 60, or 120 ppm of 1,3-dichloropropene for 6 hr/day during gestation Days 6–15 (rats) or 6–18 (rabbits). Exposure-related decreases in maternal weight gain and feed consumption were observed in rats at all treatment levels. Decreased weight gain was also observed among rabbits at 60 and 120 ppm. A slight, but statistically significant, increase in the incidence of delayed ossification of the vertebral centra in rats exposed in utero to 120 ppm of DCP was considered of little toxicologic significance in light of the maternal toxicity observed at this exposure concentration. No evidence of a teratogenic or embryotoxic response was observed in either species at any exposure level tested. Thus, it was concluded that DCP was not teratogenic at exposure levels up to 120 ppm in either rats or rabbits.