Lab disinfectant harms mouse fertility

Tag : Mouse Case

Two chemicals widely used in cleaning agents for homes, offices andhospitals cause birth defects and fertility problems in mice whosecages have been in contact with them, according to Patricia Hunt atWashington State University in Pullman. The quaternary ammoniumcompounds ADBAC ( n -alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride) and DDAC (didecyldimethyl ammonium chloride) were identified after an exhaustivesearch for what was causing a massive drop-off in mouse fertilityafter Hunt moved her research animals to Pullman from Case WesternReserve Medical School in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2005.
 
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment(see right). Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you findsomething offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process byclicking 'Report this comment'. Formore controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate beforecomments are published.

I am heartened to see an issue like this one raised in a highprofile journal like Nature, since many important everyday factorsaffecting the behaviour and physiology of laboratory rodents areburied in specialist journals. However, I am disappointed on twocounts. Firstly, the strap line and abstract treat them finding as proven, but it isonly halfway through the interview that readers are informed thatno controlled studies have successfully been performed.

If it wasonly After several months that contamination between the experimental and control groupsoccurred, it seems strange that no difference between the groupswas seen, if the detergent really had a strong effect. Suddenly Iam less convinced. Secondly, the potential relevance to humanhealth is put forward far too strongly. For example, many solventsinadvertently mimic cat odour, which rodents and rabbits areinnately fearful of (e.g. Heale et al., 1994).

When predator odour“ or presumably a solvent that smells likepredator odour“ is introduced into rodent cages,their reproductive success can plummet (e.g. Apfelbach et al.,2005; Vosnesenskaya et al., 2005). If this is what is happeninghere, the detergent would presumably not harm human fertilitybecause we do not innately fear predator odour in the same way asrodents do“ since predation of humans by cats isvery rare, notwithstanding lions and tigers.
 
We recently had firsthand experience of this in our lab, whenQuatricide, which is used in our facility as a floor cleaner andalso contains quaternary ammonium compounds, was mistakenly used todisinfect forceps used during cage changing. We had many deaths inthe following week, and now, 5 weeks later, we're having fertilityproblems with the survivors. Our institute has since changed itsoperating procedures so that this mistake cannot happen again.