Carcinogenesis, Teratogenesis & Mutagenesis ›› 2015, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (2): 121-124.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-616x.2015.02.009

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Preliminary study of atrazine on the apoptosis of dopaminergic neurons in rats

LI Jia'nan, SONG Xiaoyao, WU Yanping, LI Baixiang   

  1. Department of Toxicology, Public Health College of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150081, Heilongjiang, China
  • Received:2014-09-01 Revised:2014-12-02 Online:2015-03-31 Published:2015-03-31
  • About author:10.3969/j.issn.1004-616x.2015.02.009

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE:To study the effects of atrazine(ATR) on apoptosis of dopaminergic neurons. METHODS:The 7-8 months old SD male rats were randomly divided into four groups, control group and ATR-dose groups (10, 50, 100 mg/kg). The rats were gavaged for 90 days then sacrificed. Midbrain nigra was collected and stored frozen in -80 ℃. We used transmission electron microscope to examine the apoptosis of dopaminergic neurons, Real-time PCR to measure apoptotic genes Bax, Bcl-2 and Caspase-3 mRNA expression levels and Western blot to evaluate apoptotic proteins Bax and Caspase-3 expression levels. RESULTS:Compared with the control group, with increasing dose, dopaminergic neurons developed mitochondrial swelling, vacuoles and mitochondrial autophagy. Compared with the control group, the Bax mRNA and protein levels were significantly increased (P<0.05), whilst the Bcl-2 mRNA and protein levels of each group were significantly lower than control group(P<0.05). The expression of Capase-3 mRNA level in 10 mg/kg group was significantly higher than control group (P<0.05) and in the 50 and 100 mg/kg groups were significantly lower than control group (P<0.05). The expressions of Caspase-3 protein levels were increased with increasing does in the medium and high dose groups(P<0.05). CONCLUSION:Atrazine, through mitochondrial apoptotic signal could cause the death of neurons.

Key words: Atrazine, dopaminergic neurons, apoptosis, Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase-3

CLC Number: