Abnormalities of pulmonary and other vessels in rat fetuses from maternal pteroylglutamic acid deficiency

Maternal pteroylglutamic acid (PGA or folic acid) deficiency from the ninth to eleventh days of gestation produced in rat fetuses a variety of congenital abnormalities of the pulmonary and other vessels. These included single pulmonary artery, absence of the ductus arteriosus, single coronary artery, stenosis of the pulmonary trunk, persistent truncus arterious, and termination of the pulmonary veins in the right atrium or left anterior vena cava. Study of young PGA‐deficient embryos showed a number of these anomalies in the course of development. Many of the abnormalities encountered resembled those occurring in man.