title: Deltamethrin induces apoptotic cell death in cultured cerebral cortical neurons.
abstract: In this study we investigated the induction of apoptotic cell death and its potential mechanisms in cultured cortical neurons in response to deltamethrin exposure. The cultured cortical neurons were treated at 7 days with deltamethrin at concentrations of 10, 100, and 1000 nM, respectively. MTT assay showed that higher concentrations of deltamethrin (100 and 1000 nM) decreased neuronal viability in a time- and dose-dependent way. TUNEL staining revealed that numerous apoptotic cells appeared in the treated cultures compared to controls at 24, 48, and 72 h after treatment of 100 nM deltamethrin. Western blot analysis demonstrated that p53 and Bax expression were dramatically increased at the same time points, whereas Bcl-2 expression was significantly reduced at all time points after deltamethrin treatment. Further, we found that nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N(G)-nitro-L-arginine prevented deltamethrin-induced neuronal apoptosis and altered expression of p53, Bax, and Bcl-2. These results suggest that nitric oxide synthase might mediate deltamethrin-elicited neuronal apoptosis through modulating the expression of apoptosis-related genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Toxicology, Tongji Medical University, Wuhan, Hubei 430030 , China. agwu@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Aiguo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yugu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005562:Formazans / Q000378:metabolism; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D051379:Mice; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D009570:Nitriles; D011722:Pyrethrins / Q000633:toxicity*; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005562:Formazans; D009570:Nitriles; D011722:Pyrethrins; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; C079782:MTT formazan; C017180:decamethrin