Carcinogenesis, Teratogenesis & Mutagenesis ›› 2016, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (3): 218-222,226.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-616x.2016.03.012

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Exposure of Sprague Dawley rat pups to paraquat and maned affected their cognition and memory

LI Bai, SUN Yan, LI Baixiang   

  1. Department of Toxicology, College of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150081, Heilongjiang, China
  • Received:2016-02-29 Revised:2016-04-25 Online:2016-05-31 Published:2016-05-31

Abstract: OBJECTIVE:We evaluated the combined effects of paraquat and maneb on expression of cognition- and memory-related genes in hippocampus of Sprague Dawley pups. METHODS:Pregnant SD rats were randomly divided into three groups:control (physiological saline) and PQ-MB treatment (PQ 10 mg/kg+MB 30 mg/kg and PQ 15 mg/kg +MB 45 mg/kg). They were treated twice a week with PQ-MB from day 5 after pregnancy till ablactation. Pups at 3-month old and their tissues were evaluated using Morris water maze, optical microscopy, electron microscopy, fluorescence PCR and Western blot for changes in behavior, morphology of hippocampus, microstructure of hippocampal neurons, mRNA and protein levels of CREB, P-CREB and BDNF. We use ANOVA to analyze the experimental data. RESULTS:Morris water maze showed that the exposed groups had obvious complex trajectories and a significantly reduced number of shuttle (P<0.05) compared to the control group. Both optical and electron microscopic investigations showed obvious morphological changes in hippocampus of high-dose exposed pups. There was a significant reduction in mRNA expressions among all the treated groups (P<0.05) and significant decrease in hippocampus CREB, P-CREB and BDNF protein levels(P<0.05). CONCLUSION:Combined exposure to paraquat and maneb in utero may impact cognition and memory of Sprague Dawley rat pups via down-regulating the expression of related genes in hippocampus.

Key words: early life, paraquat, pups, behavior, cognition, memory

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