title: Developmental immunotoxicity of atrazine in rodents.
abstract: There is a substantial literature reporting that the developing immune system is more sensitive to toxic insult and that the measurable phenotype resulting from prenatal/neonatal exposure often differs from that seen in adult exposure models (reviewed in Holladay and Steven, and Smialowicz et al.). Atrazine is a common herbicidal contaminant of groundwater in agricultural areas in the USA. The potential immunotoxicity of atrazine has been extensively studied using adult-exposure models; however, few studies have explored its immunotoxicity in a prenatal and/or lactational exposure model. Prenatal/lactational atrazine exposure affects the function of young adult rodent immune systems in both sex- and age-dependant manners. In our studies, the humoural and cell-mediated immune responses of offspring from atrazine-exposed dams were assessed at two ages, 3 and 6 months of age to test the hypothesis that prenatal/lactational atrazine exposure would cause greater health complications as the mice aged. Male offspring showed a significant immunopotentiation at three moa that was not apparent at 6 months. Three-month-old female offspring showed no significant difference in immune response from controls. However, at 6 months, female litter mates showed a significant depression in their immune function. These results indicate a decreasing trend in immune capacity. Rooney et al. showed a significant depression of the immune function of young male rat exposure prenatally and lactationally to atrazine. These results demonstrate a sex- and age-dependant effect of prenatal exposure to atrazine on the immune system of the adult offspring using two rodent strains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV 26506-9177, USA.
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Brundage
authors.forename: John B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Barnett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001280:Atrazine / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D006540:Herbicides / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000196:embryology; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000633:toxicity; D007774:Lactation; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012377:Rodentia
chemical_list: D006540:Herbicides; D007155:Immunologic Factors; D001280:Atrazine