title: Acute low-dose melamine affects hippocampal synaptic plasticity and behavior in rats.
abstract: Foods contaminated with melamine potentially cause risk to human health. However, the neurotoxicity of melamine has not been adequately assessed. Here, we aimed to examine the effects of acute low-dose exposure to melamine on hippocampal synaptic plasticity and behaviors in rats. We found that bath application of 50-500μg/ml melamine decreased basal synaptic transmission in the Schaffer collateral-CA1 pathway of hippocampal slices from postnatal days (P) 10-14 rats in a concentration-dependent manner; furthermore, this decrease in transmission was related to the reduction of presynaptic function as indicated by the increased paired-pulse facilitation ratio. Rats at 2-3months old were less vulnerable to the effects of 500μg/ml melamine on basal synaptic transmission when compared with P10-14 and P21-28 rats. Melamine (50μg/ml) significantly impaired long-term potentiation (LTP), without affecting long-term depression (LTD), in both P10-14 and 2-3month-old rats. Oral treatment with melamine (5 and 25mg/kg) 1h before behavioral tests significantly decreased the immobility time of the forced swim test in 2-3month-old rats and had no effect on locomotor activity in the open field test in both P21-28 and 2-3month-old rats. Our findings reveal some of the aspects of neurotoxicity induced by acute low-dose of melamine in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and behavior.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650021, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Gui-Jing
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Da-Fu
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Li-Ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Rong-Rong
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Mao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014227:Triazines / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D014227:Triazines; C011907:melamine